The Horror Starts
by BookMast3r
Summary: So far, 3 different horror adventures have dawned upon Willow Cereno. Too much has already happened for one person to handle. An evil dummy that could come to life named Slappy...A bunch of zombie pirates...Something called MONSTER BLOOD that could make you grow like a giant... Continued summary inside. Rated for battles/fights. Read and review!
1. Slappy The Dummy

**AN: You know how I said that there was going to be a continued summary? Well, that's on chapter 12. I made this thing where this story will be about Slappy the dummy, and the next one will be about the Goosebumps story Creep From The Deep. So I'm basically trying to make 3 stories in one, and they're going to be about Goosebumps HorrorLand stories. Tell me what you think about this in the reviews :)**

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**Disclaimer: You do not own the Goosebumps series or anything that R. owns.**

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**Story #1, based on - HorrorLand: Revenge of the Living Dummy**

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I ran downstairs to the kitchen on a summer afternoon, putting an elastic band on my wrist. I was not in a good mood. Why? Because there was an evil ventriloquist dummy in my house! And I couldn't get it out of here...

I looked at the evil dummy, slumped on one of the kitchen chairs, staring at me with glassy eyes, grinning an evil grin. I had to get it out of here.

My mom was at the kitchen sink, washing vegetables. "Willow," she said to me. Yeah, my name is Willow. Willow Cereno is my full name."Could you get that dummy out of here? Put it in your room or something." Mom hates the ventriloquist dummy. She hates being around it. I had a feeling that I knew why...

I froze for a moment. I don't want to be alone with that creepy dummy! I am definitely not putting him in my room! "Fine." I said, then quickly grabbed the dummy by the arm and went back upstairs.

I looked at my older sister', Clover's room.

I know, Willow and Clover? Are your parents nature freaks or something? No. I bet they just named us the first things that popped up in their minds.

If our names are so weird and you can't figure out our genders, I'll clear it out for you. As I said, Clover is my sister, therefore, she is a girl. And I am also a girl.

Clover is pretty girly. That would be one of the words that describe her other than weird, disturbing, annoying and a bunch of other words.

The thing is, Clover and I don't look like each other, like most siblings do. Maybe its cause she's 5 years older than me. Maybe it's something else. I'm 12 and she's 17 - so she's almost going to go to university. Even though we're 5 years apart, we have a pretty good relationships compared to other siblings.

Clover has long, black hair that gets pretty messy at times, an evil smile and brown eyes that always send death glares at you. Okay, fine, she only glares and smiles evilly when she's planning something or you get her angry...something like that. If you don't she'll either annoy or ignore you. Clover is sort of tall and she loves things like clothes and makeup._  
_

Me? I'm pretty much the exact opposite of her. Sure I have brown eyes too (though my eyes are bigger and darker), sure I have long black hair as well, but mines doesn't get as messy as hers does. Seriously, you'd think her hair is a birds' nest one day!

I'm also the opposite of her because I'm not girly _at all. _Sometimes my mom calls me a boy, which I find sort of offensive, but not really.

Clover recently got her own bedroom because sharing a room with her would distract her _studying. _And she needs to study if she's gonna get into university and blah blah blah. If you call texting people all day and watching makeup tutorials 'studying', then sure, I could be distracting, just to annoy her.

I poked my head inside and looked around._ I don't think I should put it in here, _I thought to myself. _Then she'll just put it back in my room and I'll be all paranoid and think that the dummy walked!_

But I already knew that the dummy _can _walk. Before I could set the dummy down on the floor, he looked up at me and said in a raspy voice, "So slave, is this my new room?"

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So you're probably wondering how I got into this situation. As I said before, it was a summer afternoon. I forgot to mention that summer vacation had just started.

But a week ago, it didn't.

When the bell rang, signaling the end of the day, I got up and took my stuff, then I said to my best friend, Alicia, "Hey! Alicia!Wait up!" I walked over to her and asked, "Did you bring your bike today?"

Alicia has dark brown hair that reaches up to her shoulders, dark brown eyes, and she's shorter than me. Did I make myself clear? Oh, and she is also a bit girly.

"Yeah. Why?" she replied.

"Clover's birthday is in the summer, remember? And my mom wants me to get her something before summer vacation starts."

"Why not get it _during_ the summer?" she asked, confused.

"Probably because I nearly forgot about Clover's birthday last year. I don't think my mom wants a repeat of _that_!" I said. "Anyways, my mom wants me to go today and she doesn't want me to go alone, as usual."

Alicia knew why my mom didn't want me to go alone. Even though I was 12 years old, my mom still treated me like a baby and was afraid of me getting kidnapped or something.

And I don't live that close to the mall and neither does Alicia, so we have to ride our bikes to get there faster. When our parents let us go there, we have to go together or we don't go at all.

"Okay. I'll go." she said. "It's not like I'm busy or anything."

Alicia and I jumped on our bikes, then rode off. We got to the mall in a little more than half an hour, and we set our bikes outside. I was fast at picking out the present.

I got Clover stuff that she would like. Which is stuff like clothes. So I got her a black cardigan - because of her love for clothes - a notebook - for when school starts again - and a sword charm on a key chain - to remind me that I gave her this gift -.

I paid for the stuff and got a bag to put the present in.

While Alicia and I were riding our bikes to our houses, I was thinking about what would happen in the summer. Me and Clover usually waste our summer vacation doing nothing but sitting on the couch and watching videos.

I wondered if anything interesting would happen. If I could get an adventure started! But did I know that the answer was yes, I would get an adventure? A horrifying adventure? No.

I was so consumed in my thoughts, about 2 blocks away, a garbage can was slightly blocking the sidewalk and I didn't notice it until I hit it and fell off my bike. "Ow..." I said as I rubbed my knees. I hit them when I fell, but I scratched my hands as well.

There were small cuts on my palm as I examined them. I got up and muttered, "I'm fine." I noticed the garbage can lid was opened now, and there was an arm poking out. Alicia saw it too, but only she screamed. I was just staring at it.

"How come I'm the only one screaming over here?" Alicia asked me as I bent to pick up the arm. She covered her eyes as I picked it up, and dragged out a body as well. Then I realized that it was a ventriloquist dummy.

We climbed onto our bikes again. For some reason, I brought the dummy with me. Or did he get on my bike by himself? As we were riding our bikes home, I looked at the dummy and saw him turn his head around.

_ Did he just turn around? _I thought. _Nah, it's probably just the wind._

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**AN:So that's the first chapter! I hope you don't mind that it was sort of long. I had to introduce characters and write how they saw the dummy, right? So if you know about Slappy the dummy in the Goosebumps series, you should know what happens after they read the words. That's going to be in future chapters!**


	2. The Six Strange Words

**AN: Alright, now, I changed the last chapter a bit, cut some stuff out, so they didn't read the words yet. Ready for people to get all paranoid and afraid? **

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**Disclaimer: You do not own any Goosebumps books, characters, etc. **

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Alicia stopped by her house. She got off her bike and waved to me as I kept riding towards my house. I shouted, "BYE!" and then zoomed halfway down the block. I opened the garage door and put my bike in. I took Clover's present off the bike as well as the dummy.

"I need a name for you..."I murmured as I held the dummy up. To my surprise, it blinked at me.

I gasped. Then I realized _I _was the one who made him blink. There were controls! I made him blink again. Interesting.

I entered my house with the bag of presents in one hand, and the dummy in the other. I raced up the stairs to my bedroom, set the presents in my closet, and then barged into Clover's room.

"CLOVER!" I shouted, really loudly.

"What?" she said. She was sitting on her bed with her phone in her hand and her eyes were locked on it.

"I found a dummy in a garbage can today!" I exclaimed. "What should I name it?"

"You should name it Willow." she said. Her phone buzzed. She happily read the text message she just got.

"Ha-ha. Very funny." I said sarcastically. "Seriously, what should I name it?" I raised the dummy's face to her. She looked at it for about a second or so, then turned back to her phone.

"I don't know. " she said. "Hey, Willow, guess what?"

"What?"

"Amelia says that she wants to come over tomorrow. We're gonna watch a movie after we study a bit." Clover said. Yeah. Studying.

Amelia is pretty much Clover's best friend. She's a nice girl with straight, dark brown hair, a cheerful voice, nice smile and she's a bit shorter than Clover. Amelia comes over once in a while, and when she does, there's always a movie on in the living room along with some popcorn.

Clover and I love to watch movies. We have a bunch of favorite movies that are full of adventure, magic, all that stuff. If you have never watched The Lord Of The Rings, you should.

"So what movie?" I asked her while trying to figure out the other controls on the dummy. I decided to name it Dumbo. Like the movie with the baby, flying elephant. Funny name for the dummy, huh?

"Um...probably something that we don't normally watch...like-"

"A HORROR movie!" I said, interrupting Clover. Clover _never_ watched horror movies. I try to make her, but she says that she doesn't like the meanings behind horror movies. I don't know what's wrong with her! She should just watch the movie and have a scary, good time.

"Willow," Clover started, but I didn't let her finish.

"I know, I know," I said. Then I picked up Dumbo and said in a high pitched voice, "You don't like the meanings behind horror movies, so you NEVER, EVER watch them. But you should at least try, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Horror movie it is. Whatever."

Then I happily skipped out of her room into my own room. I finally got Clover to watch a horror movie! I know what you're thinking. What's the big deal? Well, it's a big accomplishment to finally get Clover to watch a horror movie! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!

But movie night didn't go exactly as planned...

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After school the next day, I ran home. I didn't know why. Maybe it was cause I just liked the feeling of running. I'm a pretty fast runner though.

I must say, I started off as slow as a slug like most of the people in my class, but then I started to run more and more and I just got used to it. I'm also pretty tough. I remember my class talking about pressure points before. They thought I didn't have a pressure point.

I don't know if that's true or not. I mean, I just got less ticklish - though my class doesn't know that I still am a bit ticklish - I can stand really hard kicks, punches, etc. So yeah...

Anyways, I got home real fast, ran upstairs, went into my room, dropped my backpack and looked over at Dumbo the dummy. He was sitting at my desk now, exactly where I left him.

I pushed Dumbo out of the way, and he fell on the floor. Then, something caught my eye, that I haven't noticed before. There was a piece of paper poking out of Dumbo's coat pocket.

"What's that...?" I muttered to myself. I bent to pick it up. I unfolded the little sheet of paper, and 6 strange words were written on it. It said, _Karru marri odonna loma molonu karrano. _

"K-karru marri..." I started to say the words out loud. "Odonna..?" then I told myself that this was ridiculous. I shouldn't be wasting my time trying to read some weird words on a piece of paper.

I set Dumbo back down on the chair. Then, I tucked the piece of paper back inside his pocket.

When Clover came back, Amelia was there too. They came upstairs to _study _and said hi when they saw me. "Hey, Clover," Amelia said to my sister. "What's that doll in Willow's room?"

"Oh, it's just something she found yesterday." Clover replied.

"Yup. And I named it Dumbo." I said. Amelia laughed at that. "Clover, there was something strange inside Dumbo's coat pocket."

"What was it?" she asked me.

"It was a piece of paper with strange words on it. Could you check it out?" You see, Clover researches on random things, so I though she might now about the strange words on the piece of paper.

Clover walked into my room while Amelia stayed by the door. I showed Clover the piece of paper, and she read it quickly, then gasped. "Willow," she said in a frightened voice. "This is very, VERY bad."

"What is it?" Amelia said as she walked in as well. She looked at the paper, and started to read it out loud.

"NO!" Clover shouted. "You guys shouldn't read this out loud. EVER! This dummy is very dangerous!"

"What's going to happen if we read it?" I asked Clover. To be honest, I was sort of afraid. Clover has never sounded so scared before!

"W-Willow..." she stammered. "It's a magic spell. It means, _You and I are one now. _If you read this out loud..."

She paused for a moment. The most intense moment of my life. "If you read this out loud," she said again. "You will make the dummy COME TO LIFE!"


	3. Is He ALIVE?

**Alright, I see that there's a few reviews for my story and that makes me happy. So I hope you guys continue to read!**

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**Disclaimer: You don't own anything that R.L Stine owns, therefore, you do not own the Goosebumps series. **

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Clover had a very frightened look on her face. She scared me and Amelia too. Then, the next thing I knew, Clover started to laugh. "Gotcha!" she said. Was she just kidding about Dumbo coming to life?

"Huh?" I said. I wasn't scared anymore. I was a bit confused in what to believe and what not to...

"Willow, you seriously don't believe in dummy's coming to life, do you?" Clover asked while giggling.

"N-no..." I stammered. "It's just the way you said it...got me all creeped out..."

"Anyways, I did tell you the truth about the dummy."

"So _you_ believe that it can come to life?"

"No. Of course not. I remember researching about this dummy one day. It said that you shouldn't read the words out loud. " she sighed. "I should have recognized that dummy."

Then Clover and Amelia left and went to the study room beside my bedroom. They slammed the door shut. I sighed. What was I so afraid of? Clover and her fake rant? I left my bedroom. The hardwood floor squeaked under my feet. And then I froze when I heard Clover and Amelia talking about Dumbo.

"Clover," Amelia said. "Did you read the strange words out loud?"

Clover paused for a moment. "Yeah," she said. I crept a bit closer to the closed-door and listened to them talk. "It was such a coincidence!" Clover continued. "I researched about that dummy just before Willow came back with that dummy! The dummy's name is actually Slappy. Isn't that a weird name?"

"It's a weird name and a coincidence." Amelia said.

"Yup."

"What if, fate was telling you not to read out the strange words, but you did it anyways!" Amelia joked. They both laughed.

"Anyways, last night, I crept into Willow's room, just to see if Slappy really had the strange words in his pocket." I made a face at the door, as if making a face at Clover. I didn't hear Clover sneak into my room! "And when I saw that the piece of paper _was_ there," Clover said. "I read the words out loud."

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So the night went on. I got downstairs before

I love to draw. I go to art class too. Ever since I was little, I would be drawing and drawing. Right now, I'm learning how to sketch landscapes in art class. So I'm just testing my skills.

I keep hearing Clover scream every once in a while. Was the horror movie _that_ scary? At one point, I needed more art materials. An HB, 2B, and B pencil, which were all in my room. I got up from the kitchen stool I was sitting on, and walked towards the stairs.

I stopped just as I was about to take the first step, and gasped. Slappy the dummy was sitting at the 3rd step! I backed away slowly, "Clover?" I shouted out.

"Yeah?" I heard her say through a mouthful of popcorn.

"Did you put the dummy on the staircase?" I asked.

"What? A dummy on the staircase?" she said.

I sighed. "Never mind then." I stepped past Slappy the dummy - yes, I do remember the dummy's real name - and went up to my room. I got the materials, took a few steps outside, and noticed that Slappy was sitting right in front of the entrance to my room!

What on earth was going on over here?

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That night, many things happened. Slappy kept on appearing out of nowhere, even when I tried to avoid him. It's like he's stalking me! In my own house!

Also, when Clover and Amelia left to go upstairs and tidy up their stuff from the study room, when they came back down, the popcorn was spilled all over the couch and Slappy was just sitting on the couch, staring at the mess and grinning.

"Willow!" Clover exclaimed. "Did you do that?"

"N-no!" I stammered. "Why would I do that? You know that I don't play tricks on you! It's the other way around!"

Clover sighed. "Okay then. Maybe the popcorn spilled on its own. And maybe Willow misplaced the dummy on the couch." then she sighed, and Amelia went to get her stuff and leave.

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When I got ready to go to bed, I couldn't stop thinking about Slappy. What if this was all a prank? Did I fall for it?

My own words kept repeating in my head. _You know I don't play tricks on you! It's the other way around!_

"The other way around..." I murmured. I turned around and stared at Slappy. Then, without thinking, I grabbed him and threw him in my closet, then locked the closet door.

Then, to my horror, I heard a raspy, cackle from somewhere...somewhere in my closet!

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The next morning, I was groggy. I tried to keep my eyes open, but I barely got any sleep last night.

I _definitely_ heard Slappy laugh in my closet! This couldn't be real, could it?

"Clover," my mom said. "Did you get any sleep at all last night?" Hold on a second. Did I describe my mom to you yet? I don't think so. I'll describe her right now. My mom has long, straight black hair, a round face shape, big, dark brown eyes, a cheerful smile and she also wears glasses.

My mom also has a weird sense of fashion. Even _I_ think it's weird, and I don't even pay attention to what people wear.

Today, she wore a blue and white patterned t-shirt with beads on the collar, along with a yellow cardigan and baggy, gray pants that tightened up on the ankles. To me, they just looked like the kind of pants clowns wear.

She was also wearing the black flats that were supposed to be Clover's.

"I didn't really get any sleep." I replied. "Maybe a few hours or so."

"Willow," my mom said, getting a bit suspicious. "Were you up all night reading your books again?"

"No, mom-"

"I told you to not do that anymore." she scolded. "Don't do _everything_ that your sister does, you have to be more independent."

"Mom!" I finally got her attention. "I wasn't up all night reading. I was up all night thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

I sighed. "Never mind."

Then I silently ate my breakfast while thinking. And of course, my thoughts were all on Slappy.


	4. Trying To Stop A Dummy

**So, now I will not do many author's notes, and I don't think I need to disclaim anymore, right? I'll try to focus more on the chapters :)**

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Days until school is over: 2

Only 2 more days! I couldn't wait. Let me tell you about what's been happening so far.

Slappy hasn't been doing many creepy things, other than looking like a stalker since he always seems to be where I am. Alicia has been busy nowadays - because she's getting ready to go to China during the summer.

Alicia goes to a different country every summer. Last time it was Germany. This time it's China. This time, I don't really mind because it gives me a lot of time to think about the Slappy problem.

Even though he isn't doing much, I know something's wrong. He didn't seem to be any normal ventriloquist dummy. I mean, seriously, is a walking and talking dummy _normal_ to you? I don't think so.

That night, I was snuggled up in my bed, reading a book with the lamp on. At the corner of my eye, I saw the door. And then I heard the door creaking open...

"Clover?" I said. "Is that you?"

No answer.

"Clover?"

Still no answer. The door was open a quarter of the way now, and I didn't see Clover's shadow. I didn't hear her trying to stop herself from laughing. And then I did see a shadow of a person.

"Clover, I know you're there!"

But then I realized the shadow couldn't be Clover's. Clover was taller than me, but this shadow seemed to be even shorter than me! "Oh noooo..." I muttered. I knew who the shadow belonged to. Slappy.

I know I left him in the living room, which was downstairs. I set the book on my drawer. Then I slowly crawled out from under the covers, holding my pillow. Then, Slappy's wooden head poked out from the door.

Then he said in a high pitched voice, "Willow...beware! I'm ALIVE!" then he laughed a high pitched laugh. With Slappy still in mid-laugh, I threw my pillow at him hard. So hard, the toppled over. Then, I walked up to the door and slammed it shut.

I walked over and locked the door, afraid that he might come back. I leaned against the door, and I slumped down onto the floor. " What am I going to do?" I asked myself. "I have a freaky little maniac in my house!"

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After a while, I went to Clover's room. Clover was on her laptop, typing away. Probably trying to finish an essay at the last minute. It's normal for us to sleep late, even when there's still school. But I was surprised to see that Clover wasn't doing her homework at midnight.

I looked over at her digital clock. She insisted that she had to have it when she moved to another room. We had to separate lots of things, and she got most of the stuff. "It is my last year here, " she said. "I'll be in university next year. At least let me enjoy my last year."

"Clover..." I said in a small voice. "Did you read the words out loud?"

"What words?" she asked me, turning away from the laptop screen, looking confused.

"The words inside of the dummy's pocket. The six strange words." I said, a little uneasy.

"Oh, that." Clover said, as if remembering. "I did read them, actually. Why do you ask?"

"No reason...it's just-"

"Are you afraid or something?" she said, interrupting me. "Do you really think that he's alive?" she teased.

"No! I-"

"Ooo! Willow is _scared_! Willow, the brave one, is scared!" then she laughed with joy.

"At least tell me how to get that dummy to be put back to sleep or something!" I felt my face burning red. I have never blushed before, but I guess now I can. I felt stupid talking to her about living dummies. I probably looked like an idiot.

"Oh, so you _do_ believe that he's alive." then she giggled. I glared at her. "Okay, okay. All you have to do, is say the six strange words again."

"Okay."

"And then, that would put Slappy the dummy back to sleep." she smiled at herself. "And do me a favor Willow,"

"What?"

"When you say the words out loud, say it in his FACE."

* * *

After that little talk with Clover, she showed me the magic words. She had the scrap piece of paper with her for some reason, and I had pretty much memorized the words.

I was getting prepared to put Slappy back to Sleep.

I didn't know what time it was, but I knew that it was already evening and my mom still hasn't come home to make us dinner yet. My mom tends to be late when it comes to dinner.

But we don't blame her because the place where she works is pretty far from where we live. So me and Clover just toast some bread, add a little butter and jam, and then Clover cooks up some scrambled eggs.

It's a shame that Clover is almost in university - which means she'll have to cook for herself soon - and she pretty much only knows two recipes: Scrambled eggs and rice and eggs. Other than that, it's just bread and random homemade drinks.

Okay, back to Slappy.

He was still upstairs, not downstairs. In fact, he was plopped down on the floor in the hallway, leaning on the railing, and still grinning his face off.

_I'm not scared of him. _Those words kept on repeating in my head. _I'm not scared of him._

Then, I walked up to him and said, "Alright Slappy, it's time for you to say goodbye." I expected him to move, grab me or stop me, but he didn't. I started to say the words out loud, but for some reason, I couldn't.

Was it my fear of him stopping me? _No! I am NOT afraid of a stupid dummy! I am so close to putting him back to sleep and I am not going to be stopped now!_

Then I started to say the strange words. My voice was above a whisper, as if I was saying a magic spell. "Karru marri odonna loma molonu_-"_

Before I could finish saying the magical words, I heard a shrill scream coming from Clover's room, so I got up and ran over. "Clover, why do you have to ruin everything for me?" I muttered to myself as I jogged towards Clover's room.

I groaned. Now I just lost the perfect opportunity to defeat Slappy!"You win this round Slappy," I said under my breath. "But not for long!


	5. Awakening

I dashed into Clover's room, and quickly asked, "What's wrong?" I looked into the room. Everything seemed to be normal.

My parents were probably in the backyard right now, trying to do some gardening, so they couldn't hear Clover's shrill scream. I didn't know what time it was, and why they were gardening. But now that I think of it, were my parents even home?

I scanned Clover's room, and then finally noticed something crawling on the floor. Clover was backed up against the wall, her eyes on the crawling creature. The creature was small, black, with 8 legs...wait a minute...

"Clover, you're screaming like a baby about a measly little SPIDER?" I said. I was a little mad at her. She could be such a baby sometimes! And she just happened to pick the time when I was about to put an evil dummy to sleep to start whining like a little girl.

"Yeah! It could bite me or something." she said, pouting.

"I don't think so. It looks like you could kill it if you accidentally step on it or something."

"Whatever!" she snapped at me. She tried to reach for one of her precious lip balm's without interfering with the spider, but she wimped out.

"Just be grateful it wasn't a tarantula." I grumbled. I couldn't believe Clover had just stopped me from defeating Slappy. "And I was just about to do something important."

I was about to leave, but Clover said with a sly smile, "Willow, did you really try to put the dummy to sleep?"

"Yeah. Why?" I answered, confused that she was asking. I stared at the spider, who started to crawl towards her bed now. Clover payed no attention to it anymore.

She snickered to herself. "I can't believe you fell for it." then she giggled.

"Fell for what?" I asked, getting more confused by the second. What was she talking about?

"Fine, I'll tell ya." she paused for a moment, cleared her throat and continued. "Making you think Slappy was alive, was all a prank." I was surprised, but I tried not to show it.

"When Amelia was here, I told her that I would try to prank you. When you stepped out of your room, I heard you. So I told Amelia that I read the strange words out loud, even though I didn't. I knew you were listening."

I finally understood everything. "So you put the dummy on the staircase that night?" I asked. "And made it seem like Slappy was following me everywhere?"

"Mm hmm."

"And you made a mess with the popcorn? And made it seem like Slappy was talking and walking to my bedroom door?"

"I see you're finally understanding. Wow, Willow, that took you _forever. _I knew I had to tell you before I went too far. You know me when I start pulling pranks on people." she shrugged.

I can't believe I fell for that! I mean, I guess I can't blame myself. It's just that...it seemed so _real_. The way she made him walk and talk, the way she made Slappy seem to follow me everywhere. I didn't even notice her pick up Slappy even once!

I'd hate to admit it, but I have been so _stupid_ this whole time! Clover was trying to stop giggling while I stared in shock, then she finally said, "So Willow, are you really scared of that dummy?''

"No." I answered. I'm pretty sure I wasn't scared anymore. I wouldn't fall for any of Clover's tricks anymore.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." I answered confidently. I thought about the spider again for some reason. It was out of sight now.

"Prove it." she said, smirking. Do you know how I planned to prove myself? I already knew what Clover wanted me to do, but I asked anyways.

"How can I prove myself?" I asked, as if I didn't have a clue about what to do. I stared at her blankets on the bed. There was a little lump under it. The spider was under there!

"Obviously, you read the six strange words out loud." Clover said, rolling her eyes at me. "Duh."

"Fine then." I got up, started to walk out the door, then stopped. "Are you coming or not?" I asked Clover.

"Why should I come?" she asked. I knew she was just being lazy, but I still tried to make her come.

"Because," I said as if she was stupid to ask such a question. "You need to be sure that I actually say the words out loud, right?"

She thought about it, but didn't answer.

"Oh, are you the one that's scared now?" I said, teasing her.

"No!" she snapped at me. "I'm tagging along." _I thought so._

We strode out the room, to where Slappy was sitting. He sat there grinning. _I'm still not afraid, you little bastard. _I thought. Maybe I was mentally trying to talk to Slappy, but I guess it wasn't working.

I sat down, took a deep breath, and began saying the words out loud. "Karru, marri, odonna, loma, molonu-"

I heard the door to the deck slide open. So my parents _were_ in the backyard gardening! They only used the door to the deck when they were in the backyard, obviously, because the deck is _in_ the backyard, which means the deck door is the closest door.

"Clover! Willow!" my mom's soft voice carried itself all the way upstairs.

"Yeah mom?" Clover answered.

"Could you guys help your father and I with gardening?"

"Uh...we're kinda busy!" Clover said, trying to make up an excuse so that I could finish reading the strange words.

"Come down soon, okay? And get the other tools from the garage!" my mom shouted, so that we could hear her properly. "And don't forget to get the gloves! You don't want to get your hands all dirty!"

"Alright mom!" Clover shouted back.

I should have ran downstairs with Clover right away. But no. I repeated the strange words again, making sure I said it correctly. "Karru. marri, odonna, loma, karrano!"

Then, me and Clover dashed downstairs, opened the garage door, got the tools, and soon enough, we were going down the steps on the deck, about to help out our parents.

I was right behind Clover when we entered the backyard, thinking about the spider that crawled under her blanket. _Clover will really be in for a treat!_


	6. Blackout

I pulled my garden gloves off and placed my hands over my face. I opened my eyes again, seeing the sun inches above the horizon. It was summer, so the sun set later than it usually did.

I love summer, don't you? The sun is one of the main reasons why I love summer. The warmth and the light of the sun reflects my mood. I always feel so happy in the summer.

And I love watching the sunrise and set on certain days.

I sighed, then put my garden gloves back on, took hold of the shovel, and started to dig a hole beside the tomato plants. Clover was planting seeds and perfecting leaves and easy stuff like that.

I had a heavy feeling in my stomach, like a just swallowed a big rock.

"I'll be right back," my mom said. She got up, put her garden gloves down, then asked, "Does anyone want some drinks?"

Of course, we all wanted some. I never knew gardening would take _this_ long. I just noticed how thirsty I was. I bet my mind was wandering off again. My mom stepped up to the deck, opened the sliding door, and took out glass cups from the kitchen.

I decided to take a break from digging holes. But since I was in a good mood, I decided to help my mom out. She must have been exhausted.

I stepped into the kitchen, and I could hear the clinks of glass hitting glass. But then I heard a soft THUMP. It came from upstairs. My eyes narrowed. What was making that noise? I decided to go upstairs and check it out. What could go wrong?

* * *

I climbed up the stairs. When I looked over at the spot where Slappy was sitting when I read the words, it was empty. _Did I leave him there? Or did I put him away?_

I stepped into my bedroom, and saw Slappy sitting on my chair. "There you are," I mumbled.

Then, to my horror, he raised up his head and said in a raspy voice, "I was here for a long time, slave."

"Huh?" I didn't know what was happening. Then I thought about Clover. _She's not gonna fool me again! _

"You know how long I've been sitting here doing nothing, slave?" Slappy said in his raspy voice.

I sighed. "Clover? Is that you?"

No answer.

"Clover?" I repeated. _She must have recorded the voice, and left it here for when I came back. _I walked out the room, slammed the door shut, and ran downstairs.

My mom had all 4 glasses of lemonade ready on a tray, all with a light green straw. I took the tray and stepped out onto the deck. I put the tray on the table, where Clover and my dad were resting.

"Clover," I said. "We're you messing with the dummy again?"

"Hmm?" she answered as she sipped some lemonade.

"You heard me," I snapped.

"Yeah, I heard you, but I didn't mess with the dummy. What did you think I did?" she said.

"I think that you recorded yourself with a raspy voice and put it out with the dummy to make it look like it talked."

"How would I do that?"

"Oh I don't know,"I said sarcastically. "Maybe with your phone?"

She fumbled around her pockets, and pulled out her black phone. She shook it in front of me, as if proving that she didn't use it to pull another prank on me.

"Alright fine," I said. "What did you use? The camera? Tablet? Mom's phone?"

"No way!" she said. I looked over at my dad. He wasn't even paying attention. He was playing a chess game on his phone or something.

"Clover, I really can't believe you." I sighed. "Trying to prank me again? After the first time? Don't you think I've learned my lesson to never fall for your pranks again?"

"Willow, I'm serious. I didn't do anything with that stupid dummy!"

I rolled my eyes at her.

"I'll prove that I didn't do it." she said with her arms crossed. She set the lemonade down, got up, and stormed up the stairs. I followed her up. Clover was already in my room, looking at the dummy, lifting it up, and trying to show me that there was no recording device anywhere.

"It's not in you're closet, it's not anywhere near your desk, bed or drawers. Just admit it Willow, there is no recording device _anywhere!"_

She dropped the dummy on the floor, then it started to talk again in its raspy voice. "That hurts, you know that? Slave, do a better job being a slave!"

Clover stared at me. "Did you make a big fuss out of all of this just to get me up here and try to prank me?" she asked. "I'm not going to fall for it. I bet you just want revenge." she sighed and then left the room.

I searched around the room. I didn't pay any attention to Slappy the dummy. I left him on the floor, but when I turned around, he was sitting on my desk again, his hands clasped together in his lap.

He stared at me with his glassy eyes, and his grin seemed to grow wider. Then he blinked at me, and said, "You're stupid sister was right, slave."

I stared at him, not moving a muscle. I wasn't about to fall for it. "Don't call me slave." I said with a hard voice.

"I can call you whatever I want to call you!" he snapped at me. Slappy pushed himself off the desk and stood on the floor. He took one staggered step towards me, then said, "I told you, you're sister isn't controlling me!"

"How can you prove it?" I said to the dummy. Then I shouted, "Clover! I know you're doing this!" I sighed and sat down on my bed, staring at the moving dummy as if nothing was wrong.

"I'll prove it to you," Slappy said. "Would your dear sister, the one who loves you, make me HIT you?"

"Uh...I don't think so..." It's true. Clover can be as annoying as hell, but she still cares about me. She's not the violent type, and I know that from experience. All she'd ever do was tickle me!, and she even stopped doing that!

Slappy ran up to me, his hands balled into fists. He raised his right hand in the air, and his wooden hand clonked down on my leg. "Does that hurt, slave? Would your sister let me do that to you?"

I didn't even flinch, really. It hurt, but I've come to learn that pain is all in the mind. I could sometimes convince myself that something didn't hurt, or it just really wasn't painful at all. I sighed. "Slappy, Clover would never do that to me. But that didn't hurt at all. Nice try."

He glared at me angrily. Then, I said, "You know, Slappy, I don't know why you want me to think that you're alive. Are you trying to make me fear you? Because it's not working. I'm not scared or hurt." I crossed my arms.

I think what I said got him mad. "If you didn't think that I was alive, why would you be talking to me?" he raised his head up, and started to laugh. I didn't know why he was laughing. Before I could say anything, he raised his wooden head up, and slammed it against my head.

I closed my eyes. The pain started to form, spreading around my head. I held my breath, trying to calm myself. But no, I started to black out, and soon enough, everything darkened and I fell back onto the soft cushion on my bed, unconscious.


	7. Fight

I woke up, snuggled in bed. The lights were closed, and the curtains were drawn. Everything was dark. _How did I get here? _I had no idea what happened. Then it all crashed down on me.

I remembered what happened. Slappy. But the last thing I remembered was blacking out, not going to bed. _Did I dream about all of this? _Before I could think about it anymore, the door opened quickly.

"How was your nap, Willow?" Clover said cheerfully.

"Uh...nap?" I replied. I definitely didn't remember taking a nap.

"Yeah, nap." Clover said. She sat down on the chair by my desk. "I came back to your room. I thought I heard you talking to someone. But when I came here, you were on your bed, eyes closed, with that dummy by the side of your bed." she pointed to Slappy. "Then mom came and made me tuck you in bed. She said that you got tired."

"Or I got hurt." I mumbled.

"Hmm?" Clover turned around to look at me. She squinted in the darkness, trying to focus her eyes.

"Never mind." I sighed. "How long did I..uh..._nap _for?"

"Not to long. Maybe less than half an hour."

"Did you guys have dinner yet?"

"No. Mom just started cooking dinner. Gardening took up most of the time." Clover got up to leave.

"Okay then," I rubbed my head. It hurt a bit, but other than that, I was okay. "I'll be down in a minute." then Clover walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

I brushed my hair down. It was all messed up. I looked down at the dummy. Not moving. Did I believe that he was alive? Well, he just made his wooden hands into a fist and clamped it down on my head, which, made me black out, so yeah, I probably did believe that he was alive.

He was beside my bed, and I kicked him out of the way while walking towards the door. Big mistake.

To my surprise, Slappy clamped his hands over my ankle, making me gasp in shock. "Get off of me, you jerk face!" I cried at it. I hoped that my family couldn't hear me, or else they'd think that I was crazy.

Besides, I thought that I could handle Slappy by myself. My parents wouldn't even believe that he was alive even if they saw him walk and talk!

"How'd you like that little knock on the head I gave ya, SLAVE?!" he shouted at me.

"It was not very fun and not very painful," I said half-heartedly. "Now get off!" he had both hands on my ankle, so I put my left hand on his wooden head to make him hold still, and did the first thing that came to mind.

I poked Slappy in the right eye with my other hand. My eyes widened as I took notice to what I just did. Then I realized that poking him in the eye was a good move._Man,_ I thought. _ I am AWESOME at fighting!_

Slappy let go of my ankle and put his hands over his eye. "You'll PAY!" he screamed again and again. "You'll PAY for this SLAVE! You'll PAY! You'll PAY!" I tried to ignore him. Who knew my hand would hurt his wooden eyes?

Lightening, I dashed towards the window, flung it open, ran back to Slappy. Letting go of his eye, he started to kick my leg again and again. My leg started to ache from him kicking it. My grip loosened and Slappy dropped on the ground. Before I knew it, Slappy used his wooden hands to squeeze my arm, making it red and painful. "OW!" I cried out.

Then he somehow got his hand on my ear, and yanked at it. I held onto my ear. It throbbed with pain. I felt my heart beating in my chest, and sweat start to form on my forehead. The intensity of this fight!

_Enough was enough,_ I thought. _Time to show him who's the BOSS around here!_

I grabbed him by the arm, dragged him to the window. "Sorry, dummy," I said. "But you have to go now." then I threw him out the window. Slappy made an attempt to grab the edge of the window, but failed.

His wooden hands started to slip down from the edge of the window, and he started to fall.

I watched him land with a thud on the ground, 2 floors below. His head rolled to one side, and his eyes were shut. I slammed the window shut, locked it, and cried out in victory.

"WOOHOO!" I said out loud. _Did I just defeat the evil dummy?! _I thought to myself. _I think I just did!_

"Willow!" I heard my mom and Clover call up to me.

"Dinner's ready!"

"Come downstairs now!"

I didn't need to tell them that I was coming. I ran down the stairs and dashed to my seat at the table. We had soup for dinner. Me and Clover just call soup and stew the same thing - it just seems the same to us.

I gulped down the soup, and looked up at the ceiling. Then I realized the tomorrow was the last day of school. My stomach felt all fluttery, because I was so excited! Then the doorbell rang.

I looked over at the door as my mom got up from her seat to answer it.

She opened the door and didn't see anyone. She was just about to close it when she looked at the ground and saw Slappy, sitting there and grinning up at her. "Willow!" she said.

"Yeah?"I answered.

She picked up the dummy. "Isn't this the dummy you got the other day?"

"Uh..."

"What's it doing here?"

"I think I left it outside. Someone must have found it and returned it." I lied. Then I shrugged. Then I felt a shiver go down my back. _Was he really alive?_ I _ only other person who knows that I found a dummy - who isn't a part of my family - is Alicia, and she's all the way across the world!_

I was sure that everyone was inside when I threw Slappy out my window, and I even saw him walk and talk before! Was I scared? I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach, but I wasn't afraid of him.

I knew I could slam him onto the ground when I wanted to, but he was still strong enough to knock me out.

My mom carried the dummy over to the dinner table. "He's really creepy, don't you think?" my mom said. She tried to not look at Slappy as she carried him over, and dropped him in my lap.

Slappy had dirt smeared over him. There was a leaf behind his ear, and some grass stuck to the dirt. He must have had a hard time dragging himself over here. I saw his grin grow wider, his eyes blink, and heard him whisper, "I'll get you back for that SLAVE!"

Of course, no one heard him or saw him do anything unusual. They were too busy chomping down on their dinner.

"Willow, Clover," my mom said, trying to get our attention. Clover looked up at her. I turned away from Slappy. "Your father and I are going to a dinner party tonight, and you guys have to stay at home by yourselves."

"We're going to come home late," my dad continued.

"How late?" Clover asked.

"Somewhere around midnight. Maybe later if there's traffic." my mom said. "You guys behave, okay?"

Me and Clover nodded our heads. I had a bad feeling about this already. I knew that Slappy was going to be up to mischief. How come parents always go to dinner parties nowadays?

It makes their children stay at home by themselves, and it creates the perfect opportunity for something bad to happen.

* * *

**AN: I forgot to mention that all the Goosebumps HorrorLand stories I make is about Willow Cereno being the first one to have a frightening experience with evil villains like Slappy the dummy. So just pretend all the Goosebumps HorrorLand characters didn't even know about the horrifying adventures that they're about to have, okay?**


	8. Retrieving The Paper

Our parents left the house to go the dinner party.

I slumped upstairs to my room, and then heard Clover walking around downstairs, the hardwood floor creaking. I was thinking of many things at once. The last day of school, things to do in the summer...Then I remember that I left Slappy downstairs. I had to find some place to keep him away!

But where?

Locked up in a closet? No, he could still open the closet. Inside a suitcase? He could probably get out of a suitcase as well. Then I remembered something that Clover said before.

I asked her how to put the dummy to sleep, and she said to read the six strange words again. Would it work from afar? Or did I have to say it in front of him? What were the words again?

Thoughts swirled around my head. I remembered that Clover had the piece of paper. I hoped that she didn't throw it away. I would have to sneak into her room and get it, without her knowing, because she'd go crazy if she knew that I was snooping around in her room.

I heard her humming in the kitchen, preparing a midnight snack for herself. Me and Clover usually make midnight snacks. Since we don't sleep early, we usually have snacks late at night.

I took my chance now, and went into her room, trying to walk lightly, so that Clover couldn't hear my footsteps from downstairs.

I went into her room. With the windows closed tight and no fresh air entering the room, it was really stuffy in Clover's room.

I went up to her table. School textbooks and papers were messily scattered on it. Her pencil case was on the table as well as a brand new packet of erasers. I lifted some papers up and looked under there. The scrap piece of paper wasn't there.

I looked in her pencil case, careful to try to put things back where they were before. Clover somehow remembers where everything is in her room, but not the information for a test. Wow.

I sighed. I walked over to her drawer. Then I looked over at the bed and remembered the spider that had crawled there. _I better leave that spider alone then. _I thought.

I opened the drawer, moved a packet of lip balm aside, and saw the scrap piece of paper. I saw the strange words on it, and just before I could pick it up, I heard footsteps coming towards the room.

Slappy!

I turned around, expecting to see the wooden dummy standing there, but instead, I stood in front of Clover.

"What are you doing here?" she asked me angrily.

"I...was looking for an eraser." I lied quickly. It was pretty believable. I always either lose, or use up my erasers. I always draw and write, so the erasers always get used up really quickly, or get thrown into some strange place where I never see them again.

"Okay then," Clover said, eyes burning lasers into me. "They're over there." she pointed at her table.

I remembered seeing the brand new packet of erasers. "Okay then." I said. I started to walk towards her table as she went to sit down on her bed. Big mistake for Clover.

I picked up the pack of erasers, then heard her shrill scream. I turned around to see her scramble away from the bed, walking quickly towards her closet. I saw the spider crawling out slowly, then it quickly started to crawl towards the floor.

Clover looked away, scared. I quickly went over to her drawer, opened it, took to scrap piece of paper, then stuffed it into the pockets of my shorts.

Then I took a pair of scissors, lightly grabbed one of the spider's legs with it, and carried it towards the garbage can. I dropped the spider into the garbage can, and while it was trying to get back up, I had to think quick. So I used the scissors to snap its head off.

"The spider's dead," I reported to Clover. "And you might want to think about getting a new pair of scissors." I dropped the scissors into the garbage can, along with the corpse of the spider. I knew that Clover wouldn't go anywhere near the pair of scissors ever again - even if they didn't have spider guts on them anymore.

She turned around again, glad to see that there was no spider crawling around. "How did you kill it?" she asked me, slowly walking over to me.

"I grabbed it with a pair of scissors, put it in the garbage can, then stabbed it to death." it was this new technique I had for killing bugs. I would take a pair of not-so-sharp scissors and throw them away, then finish them off.

But if it was a really small bug, I would just throw them away. No point in trying to stab it - it was way too small.

"Thank goodness its dead!" Clover exclaimed.

I sighed. Then I left the room. I wish I could snap off Slappy's head just as easily! I went downstairs, preparing for the worst. I crept through the living room, searching for Slappy.

I took out the piece of paper I had in my pocket, and looked at the words. I tried to memorize them, and I put the piece of paper back into my pockets.

I looked in the kitchen, and found a note on the counter, written in big, bold letters. _PREPARE TO DIE SLAVE._

Of course, it was from Slappy. I decided to keep the note in my pocket, along with the piece of paper. Then, all of a sudden, a hand clamped around my wrist and pulled my to the ground.

I nearly had a heart attack. I did not expect that!I didn't need to see his face to know who it was. The hand was hard - like wood. I turned around the see Slappy. "I knew it was you," I said, trying to calm myself.

"I see you got my warning, SLAVE." he spat.

I struggled to pull myself up from the floor. "What do you want?" I asked. I didn't know what else to say.

"A slave, you DUMB HEAD." he said. "Haven't you been noticing that I've been calling you SLAVE?"

"What will you do if I don't become your slave?" I asked, crossing my arms and trying to sound brave.

"You know, you ask too many questions. Maybe you should try to be SMARTER and actually use your brain. Oh wait a minute, you don't HAVE a brain!" he threw his head back and started to cackle.

I rolled my eyes. "Ha-ha. So funny."

"Not as funny as your FACE!" he started to cackle some more. Then I had an idea. What if read the strange words out loud, right now? He might be too busy laughing at his own stupid joke to notice me saying the words!

I already memorized the strange words. "KARRU, MARI-" I started to say. But all of a sudden, Slappy's laughter stopped, and he tried to swipe at my legs to keep me off balance.

I tried to continue to read out the words, but Slappy kicked me so hard in the knee, I started to fall backwards. My hands flew and caught hold of the cold, marble counter.

"ODONNA, LOMA-" I tried to continue to say at the top of my lungs. Then, before I knew it, Slappy's wooden hand clamped over my mouth. He was stepping on my hand, and it felt like he was crushing my fingers.

_So close to destroying him...so close..._


	9. Pepper Spray

I clenched my jaw. Slappy was still stepping on my hand, which started to turn red and go numb.

My legs were still free, so I gave him a kick and quickly got up. I ran to the top of the stairs as fast as I could, then realized that I should try to read the strange words again.

But when I saw him trying to charge up the stairs, I quickly changed my mind and tried to make a run for it.

I dashed towards Clover's room, and slammed the door shut, then locked it. I was breathing hard, trying to keep myself calm. I looked up to see Clover staring at me. "What's wrong?" she asked me.

I had my back against the door, and I felt and heard a THUMP.

"The dude behind the door is what's wrong!" I said in a harsh whisper.

Clover's expression changed from confused to frightened. I opened up her window, just so that there was an escape route, and Clover started to fumble around in her drawer.

I didn't know what she was looking for, but soon, she pulled out a cylindrical can. On it, I read the words _PEPPER SPRAY. _

Could it be possible that pepper spray could burn wood? Maybe. If it couldn't, could it be possible that the wood on Slappy is considered as skin and burn when it touched pepper spray? I don't even know anymore.

But maybe if Clover aimed at Slappy's eyes, then she could do some real damage. He must see like a real person, right?

This was a chance for Slappy to actually disappear! There were more THUMPS on the door. I was afraid that he was going to break the door.

"Clover, Slappy the dummy is really alive." I explained. "And he's the one that's pounding on the door right now, trying to get in."

"Willow! This is no time to be joking! This is _serious_!" Clover exclaimed. She was glaring at me, trying to make me uneasy.

"You'll see. When that door opens, the first person you'll see it Slappy the dummy."

She rolled her eyes.

I didn't expect her to believe me in the first place, but seeing her so frightened and worried, I thought that it could be possible that she would believe me.

Slappy wasn't hitting the door as much now, and I doubt he was making any marks on the door. If there was a mark, I bet that it would just be a few scratches. Then I tried to convince myself that I was not scared, pretty much the main thing I do when Slappy is around.

_Why should a wooden DUMMY be so scary? He just wants a slave, right? And I won't be a slave. But what advantage do I have over him? That if he hurts me, I won't be a very good slave? Then he could just move on to his next victim!"_

So thinking to myself wasn't really working.

"Alright then..." I mumbled. "Clover," I said in a whisper. "I'm going to open the door, and you have to spray him with pepper spray, okay?"

She nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

"Also, don't spray me."

"I'll try."

So I counted to three, then thrust the door open, and I quickly stepped out of the way. I expected to hear the noise of Clover using the sprayer, but I didn't. When i turned around to see her, she was frozen in place, the bottle still raised.

I looked out the door to see Slappy lifelessly sitting by the door, and my parents in front of the doorway, looking mad.

* * *

"Mom, I told you before, the pepper spray was for self defense!" Clover protested.

We were sitting in her room, trying to explain to my parents why Clover was holding a bottle filled with danger, and why were there scratch marks on the door.

"Sure, it's for self defense, but why did you choose to use it when we came back?" my mom asked.

"That's part of the reason for the scratches on the door..." I tried to explain. Everyone looked at me. I had to think fast, and not sound like an idiot. "Mom, dad," I continued. "There might be a rat in the house."

They stared at me. I looked over at Clover, trying to tell her to go with the flow. "Uh..yeah." she said, catching on to my act. "We heard scratching noises, and we didn't know what was there."

"And the scratching noises were loud, and we got a bit scared. So then Clover took out the only thing we had to defend ourselves, and when we opened the door, the rat was gone and you guys were there."

My mom thought for a second. "Then how come we didn't see a rat when we came upstairs?"

"Well, it probably went away and hid somewhere when you guys came up."

My parents considered our explanation for a moment, and then my mom said, "I guess you guys can't be blamed for this." she sighed. "It was the rodent's fault for the damage of the door, and you guys were just trying to protect yourselves."

My dad looked at the clock, then said, "You guys should go to bed now. The last day of school is tomorrow."

Me and Clover nodded, and we went upstairs. While we were trudging up the stairs, Clover whispered to me, "Willow, who was that at the door?"

I sighed. "You're just going to call me an idiot and a liar if I told you." I avoided her eyes.

"Are you going to say that it was Slappy again?" she asked me while shaking her head. "Willow, I told you that he's not a-" something made her stop. At the top of the stairs, Slappy stood there, grinning at us.

He was standing up all by himself, proof that he was alive. Clover stared in disbelief, then whispered to me, "Willow, this is supposed to be a joke right? Is there some mechanical thing controlling him?"

I was about to answer her, but then Slappy spoke. "No Clover," he said in a mocking voice. "I'm not CONTROLLED by anything _mechanical. _I'm NOT controlled by ANYONE or ANYTHING!"

Clover had a look of fear in her eyes. I wondered if my parents heard Slappy or not. I looked downstairs, just in time to see the front door slam shut. _They must have forgot something in the car, _I thought. _So we can't get any help now._


	10. Another Battle

I stared at Slappy, unsure of what to do.

Clover was completely frozen now, looking like she stopped blinking and breathing. She stared wide-eyed at Slappy, finally believing that he was alive. I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

What was about to happen? Is there going to be another fight? Would I be able to defeat him again? What if he hurts Clover? What if he hurts _me_? Questions zipped through my head, making it hard for me to think clearly.

I put a hand on my forehead, and shook my head slowly. I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down. I heard Clover gasp in horror, and I looked up to see Slappy taking a step towards her, raising his fists.

Then I heard the front door squeak open, and I saw my mom step into the room. Slappy immediately started to freeze, his expression changing.

I looked at the clock - almost 1 AM.

My mom started to take off her shoes, then stopped, as if remembering something. "I think I forgot my cell phone at the Dawson's house..." she said slowly. I slapped my forehead with my hand. I couldn't believe that we were about to lose another chance of escape.

If you didn't know, the Dawson's were the people who invited my parents to the dinner party, and they lived very far away. My mom couldn't go a day without her cell phone.

She gets calls from work, her friends, and she uses it to call Clover and my dad when it comes to telling them something important, or picking them up and dropping them off somewhere.

"Don't try to run to mommy now," Slappy whispered harshly at us. "It won't work."

Clover looked really frightened now. I was getting less frightened, more angry. Why did Slappy have to be here? I told myself that I was not afraid! If there was going to be another fight, I was going to smack the living dummy unconscious.

My mom stepped back out the door, and I heard the car doors open. Then, my parents' voices trailed off as they drove further and further away, leaving us alone with the creepy dummy again.

I stared at the door, my unhappy thoughts swirling around in my mind. Then a pain in my left arm distracted me from thinking, and I turned around sharply to see Slappy standing right in front of me.

I glared at him angrily, and attempted to grab his neck. The dummy easily slapped my hand away, and I kicked him in the knee while he was focused on me trying to grab him again.

Clover started her part in the fight, and smacked the dummy's head with her hands, getting his attention. He turned around slowly towards Clover, who was rubbing her hands after hitting him.

Slappy growled and charged up towards Clover, who already ran to the top of the staircase. Slappy lowered his head as if about to hit Clover with it, but Clover reacted fast and stepped aside, letting Slappy slam against the wall behind her.

While Slappy was recovering from the hit, I charged up the stairs and threw Slappy aside, flinging him past Clover. He landed on the first few steps of the staircase, and Clover tried to kick him down further, but he grabbed her leg and tripped her.

I ran over to Clover, only to get myself smacked on the back and tumble past Clover, down the stairs. I covered my head with my hands as I bounced down the steps. THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

I lay down on the hardwood floor for a second, looking up the stairs, feeling my new bruises with every move I made, making me flinch.

_I can't let this happen, _I thought solemnly. _Slappy is just another bully who's going to get taken down._

Ignoring the pain, I got up on my feet and stared up at Slappy. "Hey DUMMY!" I shouted at him.

"Clover, she's talking to you!" Slappy cried out in his raspy voice.

"No, I'm talking to YOU!" I pointed my finger at him, making it clear who I was talking to.

He just laughed at me. "Willow, stop trying. You're all going to either DIE or become my SLAVES. You got that?!"

"No." I said sharply, making him question me.

"What did you just say to me, SLAVE?" he glared at me with his glassy eyes.

"I said, NO." I glared back at him, trying to stare him down. "I am not going to become a dummy's slave. Especially one that was made by some maniac that took a block of wood and painted on eyes and an ugly red grin, along with a badly made suit."

He was offended now, and really angry. I thought that he was going to explode any second now, so I kept on insulting him. "And Slappy," I shouted up the stairs. "The paint that maniac used on you was probably really cheap because it looks like it's starting to rub off."

He stomped down the stairs with Clover behind him. She saw trouble coming my way, and raised her hand and smacked Slappy at the side of his head, making him tumble down the stairs.

I kicked him aside, and he was now standing on a wide, opened space area, while my back was still facing the stairs.

He got up, and I raised a leg to kick him, but he grabbed my leg. I expected him to do that, and instead of retreating, I continued to put force on my leg, sending him backwards.

When he finally hit the ground, I heard Clover running down the stairs, holding a metal spraying can in her hand. I recognized it immediately. It was the pepper spray! I nodded at her, signaling for her to spray Slappy with the pepper spray.

She did, and he let howled in pain, covering his eyes.

His wooden hands looked like it was burning, and his suit was soaked with the violent sprays. Just then, we heard our parents' car being parked, and then we heard the car doors slam as they got out.

I could hear their voices as they talked. "That was a lot faster than I thought," my dad commented. "Usually, it takes half an hour to get there with all the traffic."

"But of course, there was no traffic this late at night." my mom said. Slappy was already frozen, acting lifeless, and Clover held her pepper spray in one hand, not trying to hide it. She looked like she had a good excuse already.

My parents opened the door and saw us. "What are you guys doing up so late?" they said in unison. "I thought you guys would be in bed by now," my dad continued.

"We were going to bed," Clover said. "But we heard the rat downstairs before we went up, so I quickly grabbed my pepper spray, sprayed him, and then used the broom to pick him up and throw him away."

Wow, that was actually a pretty good excuse. My mom nodded her head in approval, glad that Clover got the rodent out of our house. "Where did you throw the rat away?" my dad asked.

"In the garbage bin outside." Clover answered. Then I yawned, pretending to be tired, and the conversation ended.

Me and Clover headed upstairs, leaving Slappy sprawled on the living room floor. I thought I was going to stay up all night, but my exhaustion took over and sleep found me.


	11. The End?

**AN: By the way, I am going to write another Goosebumps HorrorLand story soon, and this is the first story. So get ready for more frightening action!**

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And that was how I got into this situation.

The next day, I woke up sore all over, finding a few cuts and bruises on my arms and legs. I groaned_. I better get ready for the last day of school. _I thought glumly as I pulled on a fresh, green t-shirt.

I went down the stairs, thinking about last night as I stared at my blue shorts.

Instead of having breakfast, I said good morning to my mom, took an apple_, _grabbed my backpack and went out the door with my running shoes comfortably on my feet. I felt the warmth of the sun on my face, and a soft breeze blow through my long, black hair.

I walked to school, thinking about what would happen if I didn't get Slappy out of my house. I already had a few ideas, and then one thought just came to my head. The plan was so simple, that I didn't know why I never thought of it before!

I thought about my plan to defeat Slappy the whole day, and I didn't talk much. When Alicia saw that I was in a bad mood, she backed off and let me have my alone time during lunch and class.

A few people said hi to me, and I only replied a few times, and some kids in my class stared at me weirdly as if I had gone crazy. And also, for some reason, the teacher asked me if I was okay this morning, and I said that I was fine.

I only noticed why people were giving me such strange looks and why the teacher asked if I was okay when I looked down at my arms and legs. I forgot all about my minor cuts and bruises, since I was too busy thinking about the problematic dummy back at home.

"Willow," my friend Clementine said to me. "What happened? You look like you've been in an accident or something."

"It's nothing," I said glumly. "Let's just say I fell down the stairs."

Clementine nodded and left me in peace.

* * *

When the bell rang, I ran home, opened the door, and slammed it shut.

My plan was very simple, but it couldn't be complete until tomorrow, because today, my parents were not home. Why do I need my parents to be home? You'll see soon enough.

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The next day, it was the beginning of summer vacation. I slept well, and woke up to sunshine filling my room. I went down the stairs, and saw Slappy sitting on a kitchen stool.

You remember what happened, right? My mom asked me to put Slappy away, I took him upstairs, and he started talking to me.

So there I was, standing in the doorway of Clover's room, all of a sudden unsure of what to do with the dummy. Then, Slappy talked, and asked me, "So slave, is this going to be my new room?"

I smiled, as if there was nothing wrong with a talking dummy. I tried to push my fear aside, and walked down the stairs with Slappy freezing again, knowing that my mom was nearby.

"Mom, I need to show you something." I said.

"Okay dear, can you wait a moment?" she answered, cooking something on the stove. Before I could reply, I heard footsteps going down the stairs, and I saw Clover, looking suspiciously at the dummy in my hand.

Slappy sneered at Clover, causing Clover to stop for a moment, and then she proceeded walking towards one of the kitchen stools. I looked over at my mom, who was still busy cooking breakfast for us.

I leaned over to Clover, and whispered, "I have a plan to get rid of Slappy, just follow my lead."

She nodded, and I looked down at the dummy in my hands, who seemed to not have heard what I just said. "Mom," I called out. "The thing I'm about so show you is very important. Just turn around for a minute and then you can get back to making breakfast."

She sighed, and turned around. "Alright then. Go on. What's so important?"

Just as I suspected, Slappy was in my hands, pretending to be a lifeless dummy. I cleared my throat. Now was my chance to say the strange words that would put Slappy to sleep. "Karru, mari, odonna, loma, molonu, karrano." I said.

Clover smiled at me, glad that I had put the dummy back to sleep. My mom just stared at the both of us, confused.

"You can go back to cooking now," I said happily. My mom just shook her head while smiling at us, and went back to her continued with her kitchen chores.

Did you understand my plan? I'll explain it to you just in case you didn't. Okay, I told you, it was simple. Slappy seemed to freeze and pretend to be lifeless whenever my parents were around, so I tried to take advantage of that.

On the first day of summer vacation, I knew that my mom was going to be home, so I planned the say the strange words when she was around, so that Slappy couldn't fight me while I read the words out loud, because he doesn't show that he's alive when he was in front of adults.

And now that I said the words, he was not alive anymore, and I couldn't be happier. Now, I just had one more thing to do.

I lead clover towards the fire place, and she started the flame there. It made the room a lot warmer, especially since it was summer. I fumbled around my pockets, finding the piece of paper that I had put in there.

It was the paper with the strange words.

I ripped it in half and put it in the fire, watching it start to burn. I planned to throw Slappy in there too. As I was about to lunge him into the fire, I notice something in his pocket. I stared at the fire, making sure that the slip of paper was completed burned away, before I checked what was in Slappy's pocket.

I pull out a white slip of paper, and see the six strange words written upon them.

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**AN: And that's the end of the first story! Remember, there are still more stories that are about to come, and I hope you guys read it, and don't forget to review! **


	12. Storm

**AN****: Alright guys! This is the beginning of the 2nd story, which is based on the Goosebumps HorrorLand story, Creepy from the Deep. I hope you guys enjoy the continued horror, and please read and review! (And if you didn't read the first story already, you still can! It's called The Horror Starts)  
**

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_**Summary: Willow Cereno just finished fighting an evil dummy, but that doesn't mean she gets a break from horror. All of a sudden, a fun vacation with her family turns into zombie pirates wandering around EVERYWHERE. No one understands, which means Willow and a few other friends have to stop the zombie pirates.**_

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**Disclaimer: You do not own the Goosebumps series, or anything that R.L Stine owns.**

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**Story #2, based on - HorrorLand: Creep from the Deep**

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I went out on the deck of the cruise ship and looked at the waves slapping gently against the surface of the water. The only birds nearby were seagulls, screeching at the top of their lungs.

I wore a green short sleeved shirt and long, sky blue shorts. My hair danced crazily as the wind started to blow through it.

Do you remember me? Willow Cereno? The girl who had to fight off an evil ventriloquist dummy named Slappy that came to life? I hope that you remember.

So anyways, what was I doing on a cruise ship? Nothing, really. My parents got our family to go on a cruise ship for a short vacation. We didn't really have anything to do this summer, so me and my sister Clover persuaded my parents to think of a good vacation idea.

If you really don't know about me, I'll explain to you about my family and myself, just so you could get an idea.

Me and Clover defeated an evil ventriloquist dummy who came to life, just about more than a week or 2 ago. Me and Clover are sisters, but we're completely different.

She's girly and loves things like fashion and makeup, and I don't. I don't fuss about what I'm going to wear for the day - I just pick out a random t-shirt and a pair of pants and put then on. Simple.

I have long black hair and big, dark brown eyes. Clover has long hair as well, but it's really messy and it doesn't like to be combed. She also has dark brown eyes, and her face is really angular.

My parents are pretty simple people. My mom is beautiful with her straight, long black hair, and pretty brown eyes that are noticeable even under her black framed glasses. My mom loves to smile, and she has a weird sense of fashion.

I don't really know much about my dad. To be honest, I think my mother is around more often.

Oh, and what did me and Clover do about Slappy the dummy after we put him back to sleep? Well, we tried to burn the scrap piece of paper, but when there was not a single scratch on it, we decided to bury him in a graveyard.

I know, weird, but it was the best thing that we could think of. Who else would go digging around in a graveyard, disturbing the dead?

So there you go! A description about me and my family. Now onto the story. I was on the deck of the cruise ship, trying to have a moment of peace and just enjoy the sight of the ocean.

I sighed. I went back to where my family was. They were all having lunch, laughing at something. Then, I felt a strong gust of wind. The wind kept on blowing and blowing.

The ship started to rock violently, and people started to turn and stare.

I ran towards my family, not knowing what else to do. I was really frightened now. Everyone stood slowly, as if preparing to run somewhere. But there was nowhere to run to.

A few, small shower of rain almost turned into a storm as the raindrops got bigger. It started storming, and I saw a flash of white in the sky.

The wind started to howl once more, along with the crack of thunder in the sky. _Uh oh._ I thought as the ship tilted to one side, then the other. _What would be a good escape plan now? Get a lifesaver? But where are they?!_

For some odd reason, I didn't see any of the red and white circular objects that was supposed to be on the ship. _Had they blown away in this crazy wind? _My thoughts were panicked, and my brain seemed foggy, and I couldn't think straight.

As the ship tilted again, this time, things started to slide to the side. People were losing their balance, plates scattered off of random tables, and things flew across the deck.

Shrill screams filled the ship, along with the roar of the wind, the booming thunder and the flashes of lightening overhead.

The boat suddenly tilted to the other side, making me fall to the wooden floor, rolling back onto the deck, banging my knees. THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. I rolled all the way across the deck, and reached my hands out just in time to stop my head from banging into the metal railing keeping me on the ship.

I watched, horrified as the waves grew tall, slapping against the ship. A ginormous wave of water sent my tumbling backwards, and I felt myself bump into someone.

The person grabbed my hand and pulled me up, and I saw that it was Clover, trying to get my to my family. Then, everything passed by in a blur.

Another big wave crashed onto the deck, the icy cold water hitting me in the back, getting me soaked. My long hair was glimmering wetly, and my clothes clung against my body.

This was one of the worst moments of my life. One of the most horrifying as well.

All of a sudden, the warm sunny afternoon disappeared and was now turned into a violent storm that made me shiver uncontrollably. Once again, the ship tilted. This time, it was more unexpected, and it was a bigger tilt.

It was such a big tilt that it made me stumble backwards, over the railing. I took a desperate breath just before I hit the water, and watched as Clover fell in as well.

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**AN: Okay! So that was the most dramatic first chapter that I've ever made. Don't worry, there will be more chapters coming soon. Please share your thoughts in the reviews, and I hope you guys keep reading...and reviewing.**


	13. Intruder

I woke up, startled. My heart was pounding so hard that I thought that it would fly out of my chest. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. _It was just a dream...just a dream...just a...nightmare._

I looked at the clock. It said 3:00 AM, which scared me. Why? Because I heard that if you wake up at times like 2:00-3:00 AM - or something like that - it means that someone is watching you...

Okay, fine. I'll admit it. I'm too paranoid at times.

That was the night before I actually went on vacation. We booked a hotel and everything, and we plan to actually go on a cruise ship.

I was so relieved that I was only dreaming, and that the ship didn't really tip over and throw me into the water. I sighed as I felt that I couldn't stay awake. So you know what I would do?

I would walk over to the window, look through the blinds, and try to see the night sky and the moon. It was pretty relaxing, especially when you could daydream and imagine things.

I either do that or open the lamp and read a book, which I chose not to do because I didn't have any new books...

I leaned against the wall and lifted up the blinds just enough so that I could see the night sky. Then I started to imagine the things that would happen on the vacation. _This would be fun...and going on a cruise would be cool. I wonder if I would see anyone that I know...nah, probably not._

* * *

It was 7:00 AM, which was pretty early, especially since it was summer vacation. I walked outside, my hands free. I didn't have to carry anything at all! "Willow, take this bag." Clover ordered. "And this one too."

I sighed. Never mind. So I wasn't free. I put one bag on each hand, and they weren't as heavy as they looked. I walked towards our car, and put the bags in the back. Then, I pulled open the door and seated myself in the middle row.

When everyone was seated, my dad started to drive. It was a pretty long drive, but I didn't know how long.

All I remember is entering out hotel room, dropping a few bags on the floor and getting all excited for the vacation.

We had a pretty good day. We had breakfast at the first floor of the hotel, we went to see a garden, a few different parks, and stopped by at the dock to look at the boat we were going to go on tomorrow.

The day dragged on until finally, we went back to the hotel, ate some dinner, and then I collapsed on the bed and pulled the cell phone out of my pockets. It was about 8:00 now, and the curtains were drawn, since it was going to get dark soon.

Before long, the lights in the room started to die out, and soon, the room was all dark except for the light coming out of the cellphone screen. I was the only one in the room at the moment, so I was pretty freaked out.

I could feel my eyes widen, my heart skip a beat, and my hands getting warm and sweaty. I was nervous, and a bit scared. _Is this place haunted? Are there ghosts?! _

Then, I heard footsteps outside of the room. Someone was outside, opening the door slowly. I quickly closed the cellphone so that no light was in the room. I saw a flashlight beside me before I closed the phone, and wondered if I should bring it. I decided against it, then, I crawled onto the floor and behind the bed, so that whoever was entering couldn't see me.

There were 2 beds in the room, a chair, 2 drawers, a closet and an opened window. There was a sliding glass door that separated the two beds, and I was not behind the door right now. I had my back turned towards the glass door, and I intended on getting to the other side.

The door creaked open slowly, and I crawled towards the door, which was nearly halfway opened. I was already fearing that Slappy the dummy had returned from the graveyard, and that made me move faster.

I slipped past the door, and was on the other side of the room. I felt a bit safer, even though I could see the light from the hallway seeping through the open doorway from the blurred glass.

I thought about trying to go inside of the closet, but quickly decided that it would make too much noise, and it was way too obvious.

Crawling under the bed would be obvious too, and I was starting to think that I was out of options. I was starting to think that it was either Clover or one of my parents who had entered the room, until I saw the silhouetted form of the person from the open doorway.

I couldn't see the face of the figure, but I could definitely see that it was not someone from my family. The person was a boy, that was for sure, and the person was rather short.

Looking at the height of this person, the boy looked about my age or younger. I quickly went behind the bed, and poked my head up and tried to see through the blurred glass once again.

"Hello?" the person standing in the doorway said. I realized that I was holding my breath when I heard him talk, since the voice sounded so familiar. I started to breath normally again.

I wanted to rise up, to confront the person in the doorway. I had a feeling that I knew who it was, but I was still a bit afraid. I didn't know for sure if I knew this person, so I decided to stand back.

The boy hesitated before entering the room, then once again, spoke. "Hello? Anyone in here?" I could hear him trying to turn on the light.I scolded myself for not locking the door, and looked back up to see that I couldn't see the boy anymore.

Had he left? I closed my eyes, listened closely...and...

I still wasn't alone. I could hear his soft breathing, and I could feel his presence. I wondered why the power was out in the first place, and later decided that it helped since the boy couldn't see me right now.

I was waiting for him to leave, and then I realized that the flashlight was still somewhere on the other side of the room. The boy had already picked up the flashlight, and I reacted too late.

I ducked a second too late as the bright light shone down on me, and I could hear footsteps approaching. Now he knew that I was here. What could I do now? Am I sure about who this person is?

Whoever it was, dangerous or not, should not be walking into random people's hotel rooms without permission. That is just downright rude.

But I saw the light coming closer, and soon, it was focused back on me.

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**AN: Sorry for not updating in a long time! I'm not sure if "School just started," is a good excuse, but here's your chapter! Remember, don't just read, review! Share your thoughts! I'll be back for the 3rd chapter soon.**


	14. Classmates

**AN: I am so sorry for not updating in a long time. I usually update every few days, but now, it takes me a whole WEEK. Why? School. Homework. Life problems. More school. Soooo...just expect chapters on Fridays, weekends, or sometimes during the week. But please remember, if you read this story, REVIEW. I appreciate it a bunch, and I can actually know that people are enjoying my story :)**

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I squinted in the bright light. "Willow!" I heard the boy gasp with shock. This kid knows me? Well, his voice did sound familiar...

"Whoever you are, you're blinding me." I said.

The beam of the flashlight glided away. The boy shined the light on his face, and I saw that I knew who he was, and not some kidnapper or murderer. Blonde hair, rectangular glasses...blue eyes...

"Aden, what in the world are you doing here?" I asked, extremely confused and shocked. Aden Moore was a boy in my class. He was one of the short people, so he was about up to my chin.

So this kid is supposedly a nerd. No, not those wimpy, weird nerds that are allergic to everything (no offense though). He's still one of those people who gets good grades, studies and wears glasses, and he still looks wimpish.

But I still dislike him. I just never found myself 'not hate' any of the boys in my class, and some of them are my sworn enemies.

"I saw you around the hotel," Aden explained. "I decided to try to visit you today, and when I was walking here, there was a blackout. I decided to try to find you, since I couldn't find my way back to my room."

I slapped my hand on my forehead, thinking about how stupid this nerd could be. How the hell couldn't he find his way back? Wasn't the hallway brightly lit, unlike the hotel rooms? And why in the world would he want to _visit me?_I sighed.

"How exactly did you know what room I was in?" I asked.

"Uh..." the flashlights beam started to wander around the room, no longer focused on me or Aden.

"Did you stalk me?" I asked accusingly.

"Maybe..." he admitted.

"You-" I didn't get to finish my sentence. There was a bright flash outside of the open window, and I saw a streak of lightening. Almost immediately, I heard the crack of thunder. Rain started to pour outside, and I didn't seem to notice before.

Aden set the flashlight on the drawer beside me, so the bright beam wouldn't be directed towards us, but only set a soft glow around the room. Me and Aden simultaneously turned our heads towards the open door, just in time to see the hallway lights flicker out. There was another bright flash, and we both saw a female figure standing in the doorway.

That's when me and Aden let out a frightened scream.

* * *

"Sup guys." a calm feminine voice said from the doorway. The girl walked into the room, and Aden's hands fumbled around until he finally held the flashlight properly.

He shakily shined the light towards the girl, and then I rolled my eyes, mad at myself. Did I seriously think that this girl was some kind of ghost? I heard Aden's sigh of relief, knowing that the girl was someone that wasn't about to brutally kill us.

"Clementine!" I exclaimed with disbelief. "You're here too?" Clementine nodded her head slowly, as if she was talking to a little kid.

Aden was still a bit shaky, and I was absolutely fine. Aden still had the beam of the flashlight pointed at Clementine, and I scolded him for trying to blind the both of us.

"Sorry," he grumbled.

Okay, so Clementine Earl was also in my class. Aden and I have been in our school for as long as I could remember, but Clementine only came here about 3 years ago. Me and Clementine were good friends.

Clementine had straight blonde hair, big blue eyes and was pale and slim. I know, that's like what most blondes look like. Since her and Aden both have blonde hair and blue eyes, they sort of look alike.

Clementine dislikes many people, but no one seems to ever notice that. After a while, she would just get over with it and try to get along with everyone, but she also has a disliking for boys, which is something that we have in common.

Anyways, I thought that it was a huge coincidence that Clementine, Aden and I were all here. How unlikely is it that 3 people in the same class go to the same hotel to stay for a vacation?

"So how did you find us here?" I asked.

"I was bored," Clementine answered. Clementine was always bored, so it wasn't a big surprise. "I told my parents that and they told me to explore the hotel, since I love to explore so much. Then I saw Aden walking down this hall, and I decided to become a stalker." Clementine was also a stalker, which wasn't a big surprise either.

The look on Aden's face was a bit hilarious, because he seemed to be uncomfortable with being stalked. Clementine seemed to notice that, and simply said, "Deal with it."

Clementine walked into the room, and sat on the floor between me and Aden, and we started to chat a bit. Clementine was trying to find new books to help contain her boredom and Aden was like all the other boys who like playing video games.

There's that other big difference between me and Clementine. She's a HUGE bookworm and I'm not. Why does she like reading so much? Because she has nothing better to do. Honestly, a lot of things that she does is simply because she was bored, but that sometimes made her discover something about herself, and she would actually be thankful for that.

The rain started to get blown inside from the open window, and Clementine got up to close it.

When she was starting to sit back down, she slipped a bit because of the rainwater that just got blown onto the hardwood floor, and she let herself fall onto her back. "Well that hurt." she simply stated as she sat up.

I helped Clementine up, and Aden just sat there as if nothing happened.

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**AN: Well, that's something new! I never add boys in my stories, so I created a boy character. Also, I never, ever, EVER pair people up in my stories, so don't expect that to be happening anytime soon. And this is a message to Kelly Herondale: Characters in my story are not based on me, or people that I know. So yeah...that's the new chapter.**


	15. The Black Fog

The lights flickered back on after a while.

The sudden bright light threatened to blind me, and I had to squint.

It was 9:30 PM. The sun had already set and the loud storm had turned into a light shower of rain. Aden was the first to get up and leave, and Clementine finally decided to go and face her boredom.

And I just sat there, beside the closed window.

* * *

The sun shone down on me, and I stared at the boat in front of me.

The soft summer breeze pushed my black hair over to one side, and I watched as my family approached the boat. I was the last person to get on the boat, since they all climbed on before me.

We just had lunch about 20 minutes ago, and we were going on the boat ride now.

I climbed aboard and tried to catch up with the rest of my family. I saw lover, standing in front of the stairs, tapping her foot as if waiting impatiently, as my parents walked up the steps of the stairs.

"Come of Willow, don't get lost." she scolded me. Usually, she would have left it at that, but after the Slappy situation, we got closer, understood each other more, and were more insync, which we usually never were. "You're just going to worry all of us." she finished, saying it as if she actually cared about me.

* * *

"And then there was a blackout," I explained to Clover. We were sitting on a table on the deck of the boat, and she wanted me to tell her what happened while her and my parents were gone.

She nodded her head. "Were you scared?"

"Not at first. But then I heard and saw someone, and then I started to think of the worst case scenarios." I admitted.

Clover didn't interrupt me or ask who the person I saw was. She knew that I was going to tell her. "It turned out to be some random guy in my class." I grumbled.

"Who?"

"Aden Moore."

"One of the nerds?" she asked.

"Yeah, him." me and Clover tell each other all about the people we know. She tells me all about the bastards that she met, and tells me to be wise about the people I trust. I mainly tell her about the people I dislike, and then I talk about my friends.

"And then, there was someone else at the door, and it turned out to be Clementine."

I continued the story with detail. "I see mom and dad." Clover announced as she got up and left. I sighed. They were walking over now. My mom's long black hair flowed in the soft breeze, as Clover's hair went crazy. My dad paused for a second, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, and then put them back on and resumed to walking.

"I'm gonna go explore the boat, okay?" I told my parents. They nodded their head in approval, and I got up and jogged out of sight.

I went up the stairs, walked up and down the hallways, walked beside a small diner and bar, and then I went back towards the deck, and grasped the railing of the ship to get a better look at the pure blue ocean.

And then I thought back on the dream (or should I call it a nightmare?) I had before the day of the vacation. I stood there for a while, leaning against the railing, my eyes on the ocean but my mind in the dream.

After a while, it started to get windy. I was afraid that my dream was a vision, and that vision was coming true, but I reminded myself that dreams were the opposite of real life.

I squinted and looked ahead of the boat. There was this black mist in the air, like someone used spray paint and let it float out to the middle of nowhere instead of on graffiti walls.

"What is that?" I thought out loud.

Then, I heard someone gasp from behind me. Clementine stood there, her light blue eyes wide with shock, her light blonde hair blowing wildly around her. She was wearing black and white everywhere- black short sleeved t-shirt, black shorts that reached he knees along with white designs on it, and white running shoes.

But she just stood there, frozen in place, watching the black mist come closer and closer, getting darker and darker, stretching out as if trying to grab us. She was frightened, I realized. Really scared.

"There was a story," Clementine finally said. "A story about a pirate ship. The captain of the ship was Captain Ben One Leg, and one day, the ship got sucked into another land because the ship entered a black fog...much like this one."

I was starting to believe her. After the encounter with Slappy, I could believe almost anything.

"The pirate ship...just disappeared...and so did the black fog. The ship, its treasures and its pirates were never found again." Clementine continued. "Willow, what if we're about to enter another world? The world of the dead that the pirates went to?"

I was surprised how fast Clementine believed an old story like that. She was a lot more frightened then I was. "We have to warn other people," I finally said. "Someone that would believe us..."

I thought for a moment. "We could tell my sister, Clover. And if Aden is here, we can try to convince him too." I finally said. I know I was starting to believe her unexpectedly fast, but I wasn't going to be standing around and waiting when a dark blob of black fog was right in front of my eyes.

Clementine ran down the deck to find Clover, and I spotted Aden as well. "Hey you!" I shouted at him. He turned his head around to see me, and hesitantly walked over.

"What?" he asked, unsure of what else to say.

I explained the story about the pirates, as I pointed at the black fog. I never expected him to believe me, and as he laughed about how stupid I was to believe a story like that, I kept my expression serious.

"Why would you believe a story like that?" he asked. "Is this some kind of joke? Are you guys testing my stupidity?"

"Aden, this isn't a joke."

"Oh, sure it isn't." he said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

"We'll see." for a second, I questioned myself. Was this ghost pirate story actually real? Then my thoughts went towards Slappy the dummy. I remembered how impossible it seemed for the dummy to come to life, and now, I'm in a similar situation.

I pushed doubtful thoughts about this away, and focused on the present. I was going to see what happened to that black fog.

I turned around to see Clementine and Clover running here. Clover believes what Clementine said about the pirates because she too saw Slappy come to life. The black fog took its time as it approached, looking like a blob of ink bobbing in the air. Aden had a confused expression on his face. Obviously, he didn't know what in the world was going on.

Clementine and Clove just seemed worried, because for some reason, I was standing close to the edge of the boat, my hands gripping the cold metal railing so hard that my knuckles turned white.

The black fog stopped right in front of the boat, and in front of me, was the black fog. It just stopped right in front of the boat, as if there was a protective barrier here. I stared hard at the black fog, trying to look through it. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn't. It looked as if no light could penetrate the darkness.

I turned behind me. Me, Aden, Clementine and Clover seemed to be the only ones here right now. I was confused. Did everyone get off the ship without us? Did they go somewhere else? I did see a worker cleaning up on the boat.

He was just like any other random person who cleans up after people. He didn't even turn around, to see us. "Hey, you kids, what are you doing here?" he didn't seem to notice the black fog. He only noticed our uneasy presence.

"Why shouldn't we be here?" Clover asked.

"Everyone went on the other side of the boat. They went to see the sunken ship." he replied, swiping paper cups off the tables on the deck.

"What sunken ship?" Aden asked.

"Kid, it's just a sunken ship that people want to see. To be honest, I don't really know why it's so special." he admitted. Wow. Great worker. Finally, he turned around, and his eyes widened as he saw the black fog.

"T-this is just like the legend." he stuttered.

"You can see it too?" I asked, as if I were surprised. I mean seriously, he just noticed it.

He didn't say anything else. He threw open a door and ran inside. "I guess he's scared." Clementine said, shrugging as if nothing was out of the ordinary. I had a feeling that she was going to be okay through a horror adventure, and me and Clover as well.

But I didn't think Aden would be. He was as confused as you could ever be.

And then I turned around, facing the black fog again, staring hard at it. To my horror, someone was staring back.


	16. Pirates

**AN: *Cough, cough* sorry I haven't been on for a while...I've been sick...I felt horrible...especially at school...didn't even eat breakfast yet...*cough, cough* Excuse me. Anyways, just to tell you, when I mention Captain Ben, I'll add my own ideas. I mean, this is _my_ fanfiction story, right?**

* * *

My eyes widened, but I was silent.

I could see the outline of a figure. I could see the eyes, well...more like eyeballs. They looked like the were just floating there. They stared at me, as if trying to impale me with just its glare. Who was this?

The eyes were not the color of a nice forest green, but a horribly sick, sea green. Then, the person blinked. And all of a sudden, the eyes became a deadly blood-red color. This frightened me. I stepped back, eyes wider than ever, filled with fear.

Aden seemed to see the blood-red eyes too. He actually screamed before me. He took a staggering step backwards, tripped over himself, and then fell onto the floor of the wooden deck. He nearly knocked his glasses off, and then he slowly got back on his feet, putting his glasses back in place.

The person blinked again, and the eyes stayed blood-red. The eyes disappeared for a second, and then the full figure stepped out of the fog, showing us who it was. Though he wasn't focused on us...

It was frightening. The person wasn't even _alive_. You know what it was? Half of the body of the person was just bones, and the other half was rotting flesh. This person was a man, and he wore dull, tall, black boots, a worn out red jacket with holes in it, golden buttons on the jacket that looked like they were about to fall off, and a big pirate hat on his skull.

The man had some black hair draping down his face, coming out of the hat, and his bony fingers had many rings with priceless jewels on them. Unlike most pirates, he didn't have a peg leg **(AN: I know that he actually does, but just wait :D)**.

His eyeballs bulged from its sockets, and there was that permanent evil grin on his face that made me cringe.

Clover looked like she was about to puke because of how this guy looked. Now that I think of it, maybe it was the smell too...

Clementine could have passed as a statue; she was just standing there, blue eyes wide with shock and fear. Her straight, light blonde hair was moving along with the wind. "Hide!" she whispered harshly.

We were standing right beside the railing, and we made a wild dash and tried to run to the other side of the boat. Ironically, the rotting man had his back turned to us, and he was focused on something else.

We through a door. The man could not see us. Clementine poked her head through the almost closed door, and tried to spy on the man.

The half dead, half rotting person looked over at the place we were hiding. I guessed that he was Captain Ben. His eyes flashed blood-red for a minute, and slowly, changed back to sea green. Clementine quickly ducked out of view. The man turned back around, not longer focused on us.

I looked over. The thick, golden rings on his bony fingers shifted from side to side, as if walking right through his fingers, gleaming in the afternoon sunlight. 3 or 4 more men walked out from the black fog.

They were all skeletons with dirty clothing that looked like they were about to fall apart. One of the pirates pulled out a worm from his own skull with a bony hand, and Clover held her mouth.

Aden covered his eyes, not believing what he was seeing. Another 3 or 4 men came from the black fog, and soon, there were 13 or them including Captain Ben. There were pirates that were skeletons, ones that were still rotting, and they were all talking among themselves, probably wondering whether to kill us or not.

"AVAST!" Captain Ben bellowed in a rough pirate voice, getting everyone's attention. "Where's me treasure chest?"

2 rotting men disappeared into the black fog, and then came back, dragging a wooden chest with them. On the chest, there was a gleaming skull shaped red jewel. " 'member not to touch the jewel." one of the pirates warned.

Too late. One of the pirates long fingers slid over the top of the jewel, and there was a sudden streak of lightening that shot down on the pirate. I turned around to see Aden, my sister and Clementine.

The whole scene was reflecting on Aden's glasses, and I watched as the two pirates carrying the treasure chest turned into ashes on the floor.

"Oooh..." a small moan escaped from Clover's throat. She wasn't good at handling horror movies; how could she handle this? Clementine and Aden shushed her at the same time.

"Shiver me timbers!" a pirate with worms crawling out of his skull exclaimed.

"Those two numb brains never did anythin' right on me ship." Captain Ben spat as he glared at the ashes of his old pirate workers. He shook his head, disappointed, and then stomped away from the scene.

"Well, keep on movin'!" a skeleton ordered. He volunteered to be one of the men carrying the chest, and dragged it to the middle of the deck. It looked really heavy.

"Just wait 'til those humans lay hands on this beauty." a pirate with crooked, yellow teeth muttered happily.

I was taken aback. Were they planning on _killing_ us all? I took a small step back, not knowing what was going on anymore. My head was swimming with possibilities. The scene of the jewel...the lightening...it haunted me.

What if that ever happened to me? My friends? My family? All of a sudden, I seemed to be in a trance, and I didn't even know what I was doing.

I shook my head slowly. I was actually getting scared. I bumped into someone behind me, and forgetting where I was, I got startled, tripped, and was just about to fall on the ground.

But Clover and Clementine grabbed my arm just in time, and Aden was frozen in mid-step. "What are you doing?!" he whispered harshly.

"I don't know anymore..." I admitted, suddenly weary.

"Willow, no offense, but next time, try and not get us all killed." Clementine suggested.

"I'm sorry..." I apologized. "It's just that...I barely realized what I was doing...I felt like I forgot that I was still here..." there was silence. Silence that let me think about what happened. It wasn't like me to just, stumble around, trip and fall, and panic like that.

Before I could think deeper, the door slammed open all the way, hitting the wall. And then there was a shout.

"FOUND 'EM!"

* * *

**AN: Okay, I know it's been like, 2 weeks since I updated, and I am very mad at myself. Sorry for the 2 week wait, but I think I sort of had writers block...didn't really know what to do for this chapter. And I was also sick...and planning a whole new story so...yeah...**


	17. The Bony Hand

**AN: Okay, I have not updated for over a week, and I am very disappointed at myself, BUT - I have a pretty good excuse...I think. Let's just say, this was the busiest week ever, there was a lot of rearranging with the furniture, and I could barely get my hands on the computer, laptop and not even the phone! So here's the new chapter!**

* * *

Me, Clover, Clementine and Aden tried to scramble out of the way. There was another door in the room, and I darted towards it, hoping that it would lead us into the hall or something.

I hoped correctly. I pulled the door open, and it opened up to a little hallway inside of the cruise ship. We all ran down the hall, not knowing where to go, with the pirates behind us, who were stumbling and tripping so they could be first to get to us.

Whatever those pirates wanted from us, it probably wasn't something good. Probably involved killing us. I ran to a trapdoor on the floor at the end of the hallway.

I pulled the thick, heavy trapdoor up, and then climbed down a cold metal ladder. I practically jumped to the bottom. No need for a ladder. The room was very small, about 2 or 3 times bigger than my closet, which meant that it would hold the four of us pretty well.

I looked up and saw Aden coming down. He took 2 steps down, slipped, and fell on his back, and let out a moan as he landed on his back. "Ohhh..."

Clementine came down next, jumped on to the floor, and shook her head in disappointment when she saw Aden sprawled on the floor. "You are so weak." she mumbled to him as we both pulled him up to his feet and saw Clover emerge.

Before she was halfway down the ladder, she reached up to pull the trapdoor shut, but instead of holding on to the handle of the door, she grabbed a bony hand.

"AH!" she shrieked as she desperately slapped the hand away, and hurriedly pulled the door shut. There was a loud CRUNCH the moment the door closed, and the bony hand fell lifelessly on to the floor.

We all jumped away from it, a bit grossed out and overwhelmed with fear. Clover bolted the door, making sure that no pirates could come down here as well, and then jumped down from the ladder.

"What's gonna happen to us?" I asked worriedly. For some reason, I couldn't think clearly. I slapped myself on the head, trying to knock some sense into myself.

"I don't know..." Clover said, panting heavily. "I don't know..."

"I think I have an idea." Aden grumbled. "They're going to find us and slit our throats."

"They probably will." Clementine agreed.

"But...we're just kids..." I said hopefully.

"Willow, we saw what happens when someone touches that skull-shaped gemstone. You get blasted into a million pieces! And, we all heard that pirate said, '_Just wait 'til those humans lay hands on this beauty.'_"Clementine lectured me, shaking her head gloomily.

"And they don't want us blabbing our mouths off and spilling the secret to everyone..."

"Exactly."

"But who would believe 3 foolish kids, and a supposedly crazy teenager?" I said, as Clover elbowed me. "Sorry, but that's what they're going to think when we tell that to all the adults on board that we saw zombie pirates lugging a treasure chest that makes you explode..."

Clover rolled her eyes.

"We can't stay here forever you know." Aden warned us. "And they can wait as long as they wish."

"You never know how they might capture us..." Clover said, almost to herself. Literally 5 seconds after she said that, the bony hand that lay on the floor sprung to life. It used its long fingers as legs, and it crawled quickly across the little room, towards us.

We all screamed loudly. I could hear the pirates hooting with laughter up above. _They planned this whole thing,_ I realized.

It was like watching the movie _Coraline_ all over again. The bony hand made its way towards Aden, and settled onto his foot. "AH!" he shook his leg violently, causing the bony hand to fall off of his foot.

Clover was looking shaky - she's afraid of creepy crawlies, and this hand is way above creepy

The hand turned its attention on me for some reason, and I gasped in shock, then quickly stepped out of the way as the hand tried to fling itself at me. Instead, the bony hand hit the wall.

It bounced back onto the floor, and lay there for a moment, and the second it was about to get up, somebody's foot stomped on it. Hard. There was a loud crunch, and we all looked at Clementine in shock, who slowly raised her foot and tried to wipe her shoe clean of crushed bones. "Ew..." Clementine said.

"Oh my gosh..." Aden gasped. "What is going on here? What is life?"

"Stop exaggerating!" I growled.

"I am not exaggerating!"

"Look, I know you're not used to this stuff." I said, trying to simmer down the argument that was starting. "But you guys didn't have to fight a living ventriloquist dummy. I did."

Clementine and Aden looked at me in shock, while Clover nodded her head slowly in agreement.

"It was horrible. Knowing that the dummy was alive, that no one would believe you, and after you stopped it, the memory is still haunting you." I said in a small voice. "Clover was there at one point. She believed when she saw Slappy speak and move by himself."

"Wait...so this dummy was named Slappy?" Clementine asked curiously.

"Yes." Clover answered for me.

"And he came to life..."

I nodded.

"How?" Clementine and Aden asked in unison.

"There was a slip of paper in his pocket. If you read the words that were on it out loud, it brings Slappy to life. If you read it again - which is more difficult once the dummy is alive, moving around, and you don't remember the words - it puts the dummy back to sleep." I explained.

"So did you burn the paper? And the dummy as well?" Aden asked.

"That would be the smart thing to do."

"And?"

"It didn't work." I spat bitterly.

"Oh..."

There was a moment of silence. None of us spoke until I noticed that it was too silent. Clementine noticed it too. "Are the pirates still up there?" she asked in a hushed whisper.

Everyone paused, listening intently. "Maybe not." Aden said. "Maybe we could get outta here now."

"Your kid friend is right," Clover said to me and Clementine. "This may be our only chance, and we better take it now before it slips out of our hands.

"Alright." I agreed.

Clementine was the first to climb on the ladder. She insisted it. Clementine was at the top of the ladder. She unbolted the trapdoor, pushed the trapdoor up a tiny bit, just wide enough for her to see through it. She nodded down to us, telling us that the cost was clear.

Aden went up next, and he carefully went up the ladder, trying not to fall again. Then Clover went up, then me.

I closed the trapdoor behind me gently, and we tiptoed through the hall, afraid to attract too much attention and send the pirates stomping back in here.

The whole time we were going down the hall, I tried to calm myself down. _The pirates are gone_ _now_, I tell myself. _We're gonna be okay._

When we reached the end of the hall, Clover opened the door that led to the small room we were in when we were spying on the pirates, and we entered. We exited out of that room as well, and stepped onto the deck.

The deck seemed to be 10 times longer than before, and the four of us hastily crossed it, trying to reach the staircase. Right before we came into view of the staircase, I stopped abruptly, and Clover, Clementine and Aden, who were walking behind me, skidded to a halt.

"What is it?" Clover asked me.

"Somethings wrong." I replied. "I don't really think that the pirates left us alone."

"What?!" Clementine, Clover and Aden exclaimed. I shushed them immediately, and Clementine, covered her mouth with her hands, as if surprised at herself for forgetting that we were still in stealth mode.

"Clover does this to me all the time." I explain, while Clover looks at me in a puzzled sort of way. "Whenever I try to hide from her for whatever reason, after a while, when I come out of my hiding place and take a couple of steps, she jumps out at me unexpectedly."

Now Clover is looking at me, nodding her head slowly as if the memories were coming back.

"So are you implying that..." Clementine said, but her voice trailed off.

I pause. "Yes."

"So..." Clementine continued. "The pirates are waiting for us right now, at the top of the steps."


	18. The Mission

"So..." Clementine continued. "The pirates are waiting for us right now, at the top of the steps."

"Yer bet we are," boomed the gruff voice of Captain Ben. We heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. I thought about making a run for it, but Captain Ben's skeletal face appeared sooner than I had expected.

"I expect that yer saw all of that. Yer know, the treasure chest an' the magical gem." Captain Ben continued. "And I expect that all o' yeh are gonna blab off ter yer parents'. Am I correct?"

No one answered. No one made a sound, except for Aden, who gulped nervously, as if trying to swallow his words before they came out.

"But us pirates yer see, we're not gonna let ya go runnin' 'roun and warnin' everyone, even if they won't listen. " Captain Ben paused for a moment, inspecting us. His cold eyes settled on Aden, and he spoke again. "We're gonna give you four lil' kids a fun mission to accomplish. An' we're only doin' this...outa the goodness o' our hearts."

"I'm not a little kid." Clover muttered.

"What did yeh just say?" Captain asked, almost as a threat. We all just looked at him as if not knowing what he was talking about, trying to not get Clover in trouble.

I was utterly confused. What kind of pirate wouldn't slay you right there? What kind of pirate actually has a heart? Plus, who knew what this mission was going to be? And why are they giving us a mission in the first place?

"Um...Captain Ben?" Aden said in a small voice. "What exactly is this mission?"

Captain Ben didn't just give him an answer. He glared at Aden with his bulging eyeballs and said,"Well kid, if ya let me finish me sentence, then I would've told ya sooner. So next time, don't interrupt the Captain!"

One of Captain Ben's bony hands had a ghostly form of a cup wrapped around it all of a sudden. It started to get more solid, and then I realized that his hand was turning into a hook. A very sharp hook.

I could tell that Aden was regretting that he had opened his mouth and said something to the Captain. I realized that he never would again.

"Now," spat Captain Ben, glaring at Aden as his razor sharp hook started to disappear. "The mission is simple: Make sure everyone leaves the ship. For good. We wanna set up a lil' camp here. An' if yer were wonderin', the part that involves us being kind is this - if yer don't get rid o' those humans, we will. An' that won't be a pretty sight."

We all gave a small nod."If yer want ter, yer can visit us every once in a while, just in case we wanna give yeh another mission. Just go back ter that lil' room yeh were in before. But if we see one measly little human step foot on this ship, the first people that we'll be huntin' is gonna be you four."

Captain Ben caught my eye, and my head started to hurt, and I wasn't thinking properly again. "If yer were wonderin' why yer weren't thinkin' properly, just know that I caused it."

I was a lot more scared facing Captain Ben than Slappy, since if Captain Ben can magically make a sharp hook appear on his hand, who knows what else he'll make?

And Slappy was a lot smaller, and had a weakness. You could defeat him by saying magical words. How could you defeat a zombie pirate? Kill him? When he's _already_ dead?

Plus, its not like Slappy had other dummies tagging along with him...

I could see the same fear in the eyes of my fellow friends and sister, but they tried hard not to show it. "Now GO!" ordered Captain Ben. And with that, we all left quickly.

* * *

"So what's the plan?" Clementine asked as we entered the little room where we spied on the pirates, and then slammed the door closed.

"I have no idea..." Aden panted, as if he had just raced somebody.

"A bit of advice for you Aden, but next time, I don't think you should say another word to Ben again."

"Got it."

"So anyways...how are we going to get everyone off the ship? If we don't we'll all get slaughtered." Clementine continued. "And running up to the group wouldn't be a good idea, nobody would listen to us."

Everyone pondered about how we should announce this, and then Clover's eyes lit up as she got a bright idea. "I think we should make an announcement and let everyone hear it through the speakers." Clover sugested, a glint in her eyes. "We could make it sound like as if there was a fire or something...or an attack! That'll definitely send everyone stampeding off this ship."

"Yeah..." I said, thinking about it. "That'll totally work!" I flashed my sister a smile.

"We just have to make everything look like it was real, and we have to get back to our parents too, so that they won't go wandering around the ship trying to find us." Aden warned.

"The fire is probably our best hope. We'll probably burn up Captain Ben and his crew members as well." said Clementine hopefully, and we all huddled together in a circle for a group chat.

* * *

"Ready?" I hear Clementine whisper to us all.

"Ready." we all answer, and then we set off to the other side of the ship, where the crowd was. For the last half an hour or so, everyone was staring at a boring, rotting pieces of wood with interest. Yes, I'm talking about the sunken ship.

We already had a plan, and we found the control room, where one of us would go and make an announcement.

The four of us dashed towards our parents, who were all leaning on the railing, staring happily at the water. Everyone was huddled around them, trying to get a good view.

We squeezed through the crowd and made our way towards our parents. Luckily, they were all next to each other, which made them easier to find.

"Oh there you are kids." my mom said to me and Clover warmly. "We were starting to get worried. Come on kids, look at this ship! There are so many stories about how it sank, and some people think that our ship right now is going to sink too!" she laughed a hearty laugh.

"Oh I know a few of the stories people are talking about," said Clementine's mom, joining the conversation. "They say that it crashed into another ship-"

"But that would mean there would be remains of another ship," Aden's father pointed out. Aden's older and younger sisters paid no attention whatsoever to the conversation."It may have been possible if..."

Clementine and Aden knelt down, pretending to tie their shoe laces (even though Aden has shoes with Velcro) and they slowly slipped away from the crowd, leaving me and Clover here to make sure that the adults didn't notice that they disappeared.

We decided that they should be the ones to complete the mission, since they think that we should take a break from having to worry so much, because of the dummy. They think that they should try and do the hard part.

Clementine set off towards the control room, where the Captain had left for his break, and Aden sprinted down the side of the ship. He went behind a wall where no one could see him. There was a can of gasoline and some match sticks where Aden was hiding. What a coincidence.

The crowd was talking loudly, but I knew that Aden was carefully spreading gasoline over some of the floor. Our plan was dangerous, but was it as dangerous as un-dead pirates? We just had to try.

I knew that Aden had taken a matchstick, lit it and threw it down at the gasoline soaked floor, because the fire alarm was ringing loudly and irritatingly in our ears. There was flashing red light along with the ringing of the alarm, and Aden sprinted back towards the crowd without anyone noticing.

Only after a few seconds, a dangerous flicker of light came from the place where Aden hid. Everyone was in an uproar and trying to get off the ship first.

The Captain of the ship was utterly confused, and the workers were searching everywhere for a fire extinguisher, but we thought ahead. If anyone wanted a fire extinguisher at the moment, they would have to jump into the cold water and search.

The workers were getting buckets and were desperately filling it with water, trying to put out the fire.

I was starting to think how crazy we were for starting all of this commotion, and everyone was hurriedly to the side of the ship.

"How do we escape?" someone was screaming.

"We're in the middle of the water!"

"We can't just jump in, right?"

But we were already moving. Clementine was still in the control room with horribly complicated controls and buttons, but she somehow got the ship moving. She was setting off towards the nearest part of land, and no one bothered to run over to the exit - that part of the ship was already burning.

So all the passengers were huddled next to the railing, getting ready to possibly jump off at the slightest sight of land. Some people already took lifesavers with them and were bobbing in the water, but there weren't enough lifesavers for everyone.

Other people were in the water because they knew how to swim. Me, Clover, Aden and his sisters, and also Clementine's older brother (yes, she does have an older brother) were already soaking and shivering from head to toe in the water, even under the glaring sun.

Fortunately, we took swimming classes. Unfortunately, our parents didn't know how to swim like we did.

We made out way to shore - or in this case, the part of land which was close to our hotel - and pushed ourselves onto the dry land. The burning sun had basically cooked the surface of the cold stone ground. When I lay there, breathless, I felt warmth seeping through me again and slowly, I was no longer numb with coldness.

I looked up slowly to see that the ship was moving closer and closer, almost here. The fire was dying out as the workers on the ship poured bucket after bucket of water on it, and everyone safely got off of the ship.


	19. The Plan

**A.N: I know that last chapter was pretty crazy, but how else would you get people off the ship? No, don't answer that question. Oh, and if I haven't updated in about a week, please note that I have been _gone _for a little bit.  
**

* * *

"Everyone okay?" Clover asked as we all trudged back together. Our parents were in a group behind us, outraged and frightened about the fire.

"Who started that? What idiot could have started that fire?" my mom exclaimed.

"They could have killed us! Or worse, our kids!" my dad agreed.

"Probably some jerk that dropped a cigarette," Aden's dad grumbled. "I saw some guy carrying one." and they continued to come up with ideas of how the fire started, until they finally concluded that it was the job of the people who owned the ship to figure that out.

"I was about to throw a cigarette at the center of the fire," Aden whispered to us, wiping at his wet hair which was now matted against his forehead. "But I figured that it would just burn."

We all nodded in agreement, and fell silent.

Finally, Clover asked, "What do you think the pirates will do now? I was hoping that the ship would burn them to ashes."

"Me too. But what if our parents and us didn't get back safely?" I protested desperately.

"We're not safe either way!'' Clementine exclaimed, but we shushed her. I could feel the suspicious gaze of our parents on my back. "We're not safe either way with those pirates," Clementine repeated in a hushed whisper.

"Whatever. I just hope that we burned that grin off their ugly rotting faces." Aden replied glumly.

* * *

"The workers have come to a conclusion that someone dropped a cigarette on the floor or possibly a candle and started the fire." Clover reported to us after doing some fast research in our hotel rooms.

Me, Clover, Clementine and Aden were all in my parent's hotel room. Aden's parents - Lauren and Mortimer - had let Aden stay with us for a while while they rested with Aden's 17 year old sister, Audrey, and Aden's 8 year old sister, Amber.

Clementine's parents - Isabelle and Joseph - had also let Clementine stay with us, and Clementine's 15 year old brother, Charles dropped her off as if afraid of another fire.

We were planning to sneak off to see the ship again. We knew that our parents would most likely forbid us from going near that ship, but we just had to see if Captain Ben and his pirates were still there.

"We're going to the lobby." Clover says as we exit the room. Our parents didn't question us. They were too exhausted from that interesting boat ride we just had.

So me, Clover, Clementine and Aden hurriedly went to the lobby and dashed outside. We sprinted to where the ship was, with Clementine and Aden in the front, me close behind, and Clover behind us, catching her breath. "I'm not as young as I used to be!" she wailed as we continued to sprint.

Soon, we were facing the ship_, _which was now covered in ash and had _KEEP OUT _signs all around it. We could see no one on or near the ship - except for us - so we climbed aboard.

We jogged around the first floor of the ship, our shoes thumping against the wood on the ground, until we finally reached the place where Aden had started the fire.

The wood there had been burned was no longer smoke emitting from the floor. The walls surrounding the floor had either gotten the paint chipped off and the wood inside showing, or it had a big empty gap where the fire had burned too fiercely, making it look like a giant had punched the wall.

I had finally noticed our surroundings and realized that we had gotten lucky and hadn't stepped on any weak floorboards. And we also avoided the places where parts from the top of the ship had fallen off and crashed onto the floor - breaking the wood and sinking into the bottom of the ship. The metal on the railings and other places had gotten rusted.

"So..." I said slowly. "Looking at the condition of the ship, is it possible that we could have burned Captain Ben and his pirates as well?"

Clover opened her mouth to answer, but then a raspy voice far behind me spoke instead. "Don' need ter worry 'bout us, kids." I heard Captain Ben say. "We're just fine."

We all turn around to see the pirates standing there with their grinning skulls. "We decided not ter kill ya," Captain Ben continued. "Did a good job, ya did." he chuckled. "Oh, an' lightin' the ship on fire was a good idea too. I was hopin' that you'd think of that. It was so warm when I stepped through those flames - it kinda tickled." he laughed a cold, hollow laugh as we stayed expressionless.

"Captain Ben," Aden said, this time not in a shaky voice but in a firm voice. We all turn around to face him, and I saw the determined look on his face. _Determined to prove that he isn't some sort of wimp, _I thought. "If you liked the fire idea so much, why didn't you just light up the ship yourself?"

"Because," Captain Ben answered, suddenly looking impatient. "We don' want ter be seen. If we were, then the whole plan is ruined. Don' ya have a brain in yer noggin?" he tapped his foot, waiting for an answer.

"I thought you were going to say that."

"Then why'd ya ask me in the first place, eh?" Captain Ben tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Aden's answer, but all he did was shrug.

"Anyways," continued Captain Ben. "You kids should go now, me and me pirates will be working on that treasure chest with that precious stone..." there was a gleam in his eyes as he said the last part.

And with that, we slipped away and off the ship.

* * *

"This doesn't really solve anything," growled Clementine as we neared the hotel. "I mean, sure we saved a bunch of people from getting their throats slit, but now Captain Ben's gonna electrify them with a gem stone! A stupid _gem stone_!"

"So we need a new plan," Aden narrowed his eyes as he thought for a while, then said, "We need to break the gem stone. Maybe smash it, shoot it with something. But first, we probably need to get rid of those filthy pirates."

"Maybe we can lure them towards the stone." Clover suggested. "And we could get them to zap themselves. Then when they're gone, we can break the stone...somehow."

"And this is why we need a plan." I concluded. Then I paused. "Maybe we need someone to be on the ship, and pretend to help the pirates, while we're actually trying to destroy them."

"It doesn't need to be one person," Clover protested. "Willow, I know you're thinking about going alone, and that's not happening." she sounded cross, and she was correct. I indeed wanted to go alone. I wanted to save everyone the trouble of having to be dragged along with me. Besides, I even devised a simple plan to destroy Slappy. I'm sure I can defeat these pirates.

What could go wrong?

"Clover's right," Clementine muttered through clenched teeth, almost sounding like she was singing a tune as she talked. "You _cannot _go alone. I absolutely forbid it. I'm sure Aden agrees with us, right?"

Clementine elbowed him and Aden looked up. "Er...right. We have to stay together." he stammered as Clementine glared at him. Then he quickly added, "We can't let you have all the fun, can we?"

And that settled it. We were going to stay on that ship until we completely earned the pirates' trust, and then we would betray them. Somehow, this had to work.


	20. Insane Bill

"I hate this." Clover grumbled as she clawed at her sleeve.

We were all in pirate clothing: Everyone wore their usual t-shirts underneath thin leather jackets. We all had dark overalls, combat boots and a golden tokens on a leather cord around our necks - just to symbolize our duties on the ship, I guess.

"This is what you signed up for." I whisper as I adjust my boots. Captain Ben approved our offer of helping him further - this time actually staying on the ship - and he insisted on us wearing pirate-like clothing. "If yeh want ter be one o' us, yeh gotta dress like us as well."

The clothes that they gave us were actually _normal, _but I had a feeling that Clementine was uncomfortable with wearing clothes that the pirates - and possibly rats- had touched.

Aden groaned. "We have to be here, with _them _for a whole day or maybe even longer!"

Everyone seemed to agree with that, though we all knew that it was worth it. No one else would even think that pirates were on this ship. Though we probably had an advantage, since this was the first time the pirates had dealt with humans, or so they told us.

And then I think back at Slappy. _That was probably the first time he dealt with a human too, _I thought. _It makes sense. He barely did anything other than taunt m__e and Clover about how he was alive. The next time he meets a child, he'll probably have so much more evil planned for them._

I shudder as I think about how lucky I was. I was almost disgusted by how unfair my battle with the dummy was, but I decided that it was horrific enough.

"This will all be over, this will all be over, this will all be over..." Clementine repeated to herself, almost like a chant.

I sighed as we went back to the deck of the ship, where all the pirates greeted us with their ugly skeletal faces and rotting flesh. They surrounded us in a circle, examining us, since it was the first time they've been close to a human without them trying to run away.

I braced myself as they came closer. Then I realized I had no other choice as I took a deep breath and held it, since I was about to puke from the pirates' horrible stench.

I was pretty sure that puking in front of pirates because of their smell was not very respectful. I looked at Clover's face and saw that she was going a bit green, and Clementine and Aden were as stiff as a board.

"Make room!" Captain Ben bellowed as he stepped onto the deck. The pirates shuffled out of the way quickly. I even hear some bones crack. I turned around to see a pirate reattach his arm then stand back with the others.

"I see that yer all dressed up like a proper pirate." Captain Ben continued. "And yer ready to start yer chores?"

We nodded.

"Alright then. You can start with..." Captain Ben named a long list of things that we needed to find from their bags such as compasses, old sea maps, etc. He also told us to clean out the Captain's room and control room and also ready the cannons.

"Why would we need to ready the cannons?" Clementine asks.

"Because people won' be happy 'bout us settin' off, will they?" replied the Sailing Master, who was in charge of navigation and looking after the navigating instruments. "I mean, if I stole yer broken ship - even though it's broken - you wouldn' be too happy now, will ya?"

We took a long time getting everything ready. First, we went to the control room to clear things out. Me and Clover took away the maps for the 21st century on purpose - we didn't want the pirates to actually go anywhere.

Clementine and Aden set off the hand all the old and yellowed maps to the Sailing Master - Insane Bill - as well as the compasses.

"Be gone, now!" I heard Insane Bill roar. I heard him play with the thin chains around his neck - what he called _jewellery_ - and then he hissed, "Ben might like the idea o' havin' filthy humans aboard, but tha' doesn' mean tha' all o' us do!"

Clementine and Aden hurriedly came back into the control room. They sighed with relief at the thought of being away from Insane Bill.

"Let's just say Insane Bill is actually a bit too..._insane. _He has a bunch of chains wrapped around his neck and wrist, and I even saw _blood _on it. Oh, and did I mention his interesting collection of weapons hanging on his belt along with some beer?" Clementine rolled her eyes. "Insane Bill probably isn't very careful with his collection of weapons - he has cuts all over his hands and arms!"

"His hair is disgusting to look at. I bet he has lice!" Aden exclaimed. Clementine and Aden continued to ramble on about how horrible Insane Bill is - horrible alcohol breath, always shouting and pointing his dagger at them, and walking around like he's drunk.

"We have to live with it." Clover grumbled. "Captain Ben said that we have to load the cannons that are around the ship with help from Insane Bill." we all groaned.

* * *

"You can do better than _that_!" Insane Bill growled at us as we dropped the cannonballs on the floor with exhaustion. "Don' drop them on the ground! Pick them back up and continue to march towards the cannons. COME ON! Get up you lazy barnacles!"

I panted as lifted the 3 cannonballs once more. They were like bowling balls! Imagine carrying 3 bowling balls from one side of the ship to the other! "Why do these airheads store the cannonballs in the most inconvenient places?" I huff under my breath.

"What was that, Missy?" he turned around to glare at me and for the first time, I noticed his glass eye where his right eye should have been.

I stare back at him, trying to look surprised, as if I hadn't said anything at all. "Whatever do you mean, Insane Bill?" I ask innocently. It's not like he has any proof that I insulted them.

He sighs impatiently. "Never mind!" then he walks ahead of us, reaching the cannons on the side of the ship as Clover grinned at me.

After what seemed like hours, we finally finished loading up the cannons as well as carry crates of cannonballs up to the deck while Insane Ben roared insults at us. "I have NEVER, in me entire life, seen anyone as weak as you people! I don' think that _I'm _insane, more like Captain Ben! Why in the world would he hire stupid _humans _ter help on the ship? PAH! Hey, don't ya roll yer eyes at me, Missy!"

Anyways, when we finished our work, it was already sunset. I was afraid that our parents were going to worry about us, and I was thinking about how the conversation would go when we went home. _If _we went home at all.

"Hey!" Insane Bill called out to us as we started to walk away. "Captain Ben wanted yeh guys ter stay for as long as possible, which I don' agree with."

I sharply inhaled as I heard him say that, but me, Clementine, Clover and Aden still turned around to face Insane Bill. _Stay as long as possible?!_

"Ben said that yeh should try to learn some Pirate Lingo. If yer gonna be on our ship, at least try to learn ter speak like a pirate!" continued Insane Bill. "So Ben wanted ter make ya read some books about pirates an' all, but I say screw reading!"

We stay silent.

"I wanna see how well yer fightin' skills are." he grinned evilly as he said that. "How well do yeh shoot? How well do yeh handle a sword? A dagger? Do yeh prefer a stupid bow and arrow, or the almighty gun an' rifle?" he took out a gun and bullets, and twirled it in his fingers. "Who's the fastest runner? Who has the best reflexes? Who's more flexible? Who can endure the most pain?"

What he said sent a shiver down my back. "What do you mean by _endure the most pain?" _I asked as my eyes widened with horror.

Insane Bill cackled. He laughed for a long time until there were tears in his eyes and he was doubling over. "Do yeh really think tha' Ben'll let me torture you kids? No, he wants ter keep yeh here. I don't know why. Maybe he's grown fond o' humans." Insane Bill pretended to gag. Then, he said with an evil glint in his eyes, "Or maybe...he wants to study humans and slay them right after..." he nodded his head slowly, obviously liking the idea.

Insane Bill continued to twirl the gun around his fingers, then loaded it with bullets and pointed it at us.

"Er...Bill? You're not gonna shoot us, right?" Clementine stammered. She laughed nervously. "You even said so yourself, Ben won't let you lay a finger on us, right?"

Bill wasn't listening. He was humming a tune as he spun in slow circles. Now I understood what Clementine and Aden meant when they said that he walked like a drunk man.

And then, his humming came to an end as he turned to face us, a strange grin on his face, making me uneasy. And then he raised the gun at us...


End file.
